Compact Dipping Sonar for Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs)

During the Phase I effort we will design a small, lightweight dipping sonar using innovative transducer and handling system technology. The key innovation in the transducer is an array of segmented flexural discs which will provide both projector and beamformed receiver functionality. By combining these two components, we save a significant amount of space and weight while ending up with greater transducer sensitivity and directionality than would otherwise be possible. Our handling system effort will take advantage of previous SBIR work for autonomous over-boarding of the legacy UDS system. This innovative design will be modified to work with a lighter transducer and reeling machine to provide a UDS system weighing hundreds of pounds less than the legacy system. Our team will also propose autonomous handling system software and advanced beamforming and auto-detection algorithms and will develop the requisite interface control documentation to build a prototype system in a Phase II effort.