Bioluminescence Risk Detection Aid

Nighttime bioluminescence poses a large naval tactical problem. Therefore a navigation aid is required for underwater vehicles (manned or un-manned) that will sense the platform-induced (e.g. an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle, SEAL Delivery Vehicle, or diver) bioluminescence, water optical properties, and ambient light, and use the measured parameters as input to solve a simple radiative transfer algorithm that outputs the level of the detection risk to the vechicle navigator that is easy to interpret. Through our Phase I efforts, we demonstrated the feasibility of providing an accurate prediction of risk under “worst case” (black night) conditions. The long-term goal of this project is to develop a bioluminescence risk detection aid for underwater vehicle navigation and mission planning and in Phase II we plan to build and evaluate several prototype systems. Our envisioned bioluminescence risk detection aid will be a standalone, self contained unit that includes 1) a suite of simple, compact, low power sensors to measure bioluminescence intensity, water attenuation properties, ambient light, depth and time, 2) a data acquisition and processing system to integrate measurement streams and apply a simple radiative transfer algorithm to determine bioluminescence detection risk, and 3) a simple user interface to display real-time threat risk.