Compact Lightweight MAD Towing System

Nielsen Engineering & Research (NEAR) is proposing to develop a new and innovative tow system for the AN/ASQ-233 magnetometer. The system will be small and light enough to allow its use with manned and unmanned fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. The tow body will be stabilized to ± ½ degree in all 3 rotational axes and will minimize lateral pendulum motion over a speed range from 50 to 350 knots. Furthermore, the proposed system will not generate electrical or magnetic interference that will detrimentally affect operation of the magnetometer. Achieving all of these operational requirements in a single system is extremely difficult which makes it equally difficult to predict a priori whether or not a proposed concept will perform to the desired specifications. Thus, this proposal contains a number of innovative tow body system concepts that will be investigated during the Phase I contract. NEAR will use their expertise in numerically modeling, designing, and testing similar concepts to investigate the feasibility and merits of each and down select to one or two that will be further developed and tested during the Phase II effort.