Embedded Sensors with Low Power Telemetry for Towed Arrays

The U.S. Navy is interested in improving the capability and reliability of towed arrays by embedding low power telemetry electronics into the same package as the hydrophone/sensors. The telemetry electronics will be located inside a pressure housing that will contribute to increased reliability. This project requires both advancement/miniaturization of the telemetry circuits and the hydrophone to keep the overall size small (goal of 0.5"OD x 2.0"length) with the same or increased acoustic performance and lower power consumption. The smaller size allows for more hydrophones per unit length which improves array performance. Embedding telemetry with the hydrophone opens up the possibility of transmitting the response of every hydrophone to the processing system. Increased sensor count with embedded telemetry will result in higher data rates for these oversampled arrays, requiring innovative approaches to accommodate the resulting increased data bandwidth. Having multiple sensors and telemetry channels will result in inherent redundancy and graceful degradation in the event of a sensor failure. Innovative concepts will be developed to increase the number of channels per unit length in sonar arrays to improve system performance while simultaneously reducing the power required and improving reliability.