Deep Long Life Passive Sonobuoy Sensor System

Systems & Technology Research (STR) together with our partner, Applied Physical Sciences (APS), is pleased to provide this proposal to develop concepts for a deep ocean A-size sonobuoy system capable of exploiting the reliable acoustic path (RAP) propagation to detect submarine targets. The detection range of the proposed system is significant relative to shallow sonobuoy deployments due to the rejection of distant shipping noise in the deep ocean environment. To realize the potential gains of this low noise environment, the acoustic sensors must meet very low electronic noise metrics, and due to the compact system size (<5 diameter, 36 long for an A-size sonobuoy) and the need for continuous operations of 2 weeks or more, the system must be capable of operating on just a few Watts of power. Our baseline design leverages a compact (3.5 x 1.5 diameter), low noise vector sensor developed by APS and a unique multi-modal approach for reduced-power operation in which a persistent, low power tripwire detection mode selectively turns on moderate power, higher fidelity modes to interrogate and track targets. This concept development phase will culminate in a design that will serve as the baseline for a potential sonobuoy prototype development in Phase II.