Multi-Static Processing Using Sonobuoys as Opportunistic Receivers

Existing organic sensors of surface combatants may be enhanced through the use of off-board sonobuoy receiver fields to extend both range and accuracy. Leveraging active transmissions in bistatic and multistatic geometries is a force multiplier that can provide additional courses of action for the war fighter. Coordinated active engagement with surface ship sources and many receivers, combined with existing monostatic active returns, may improve signal-to-noise ratio performance resulting in increased: probability of detection, detection range, submarine holding time, and ultimate success in submarine prosecution. This has become progressively more important with the proliferation of diesel electric and other quiet threat submarines that present greater challenges to today"s Navy. A successful solution must incorporate a capability to locate, with reasonable accuracy, all potential sonobuoy receivers to appropriately synchronize the timing basis. Additional acoustic processing functionality required for bi-static processing will be identified, leveraging existing Pulse Active Sonar Functional Segment (PASFS) capability. Modeling and simulation can be employed, leveraging existing air ASW mission planning tools, to provide evaluations of overall system performance across a variety of environmental and tactical scenarios.