Engineering Sensors for Towed Array Reliability

The operational need for this improved towed array technology insertion initiative stems from the necessity to improve availability and reliability of towed arrays in use on submarines in both shallow and deep water environments, and represents a critical submarine capability enhancement. The proposed project will extend and transition the telemetry, packaging and iPEN technologies developed under SBIR Topic N111-075, and N04-138. The specific emphasis of this technology transition is improved reliability for the TB-29A Towed Array. Optimal TB-29A performance and availability requires a balance of design ruggedness, improved resilience, and improved reliability. The use of previous SBIR technologies has the potential to increase all of these. These reliability improvements are based on simplified architecture and corresponding connector reduction, lower power, and the use of pressure vessels to protect the telemetry components from towing and handling stresses while also allowing for failure analysis and repair. A collateral benefit is improved monitoring from additional sensors built into the telemetry components. 3Pi plans to build one (1) TB-29A Reliability Upgrade (RU) Towed Array and test through array harness testing, factory acceptance testing, lake and sea trial testing during this effort.