Multimode Distributed Optical Sensor for Target Detection Classification and Tracking

Vibration Impact and Pressure (VIP) Sensors Inc. proposes to develop a small, very low noise, highly sensitive low power, extrinsic fiber-optic sensor and signal processing module that can be integrated into a single node of the Autonomous Undersea Weapon System (AUWS) for target detection, classification, localization and tracking (DCLT). This sensor is enclosed in a cylindrical canister containing a battery pack, a miniature Optical MOMS(micro-optical-mechanical-systems) sensor chip, and a surface mounted printed circuit board that includes all the electronics to process the sensor signals through highly effective DCLT algorithms, and when appropriate, broadcasts commands to other deployed assets. Normally different nodes with different types of sensors would be needed to provide proper AUWS trigger information. VIP Sensors proposes for this program to specifically develop a single sensor, a fiber optic hydrophone, specially designed to be a multi-mode distributed sensor. Multiple fiber-optic sensors of different types (accelerometer, magnetometer, pressure, etc.) can be processed with the same hardware and be included in the same sensor module. The fiber-optic sensors are miniature MOMS Silicon chips based on the Extrinsic Fabry-Perot Interferometric principle. The MOMS technology allows customizing the performance and design for different types of sensor modalities and low cost production rates.