Dual-Mode Broadband Surface Ship, Hull Mounted, Mine Avoidance Sonar

Alaska Native Technologies, LLC (ANT) proposes to develop a hull-mounted sonar system that would be integrated into the DD(X) HF Mine Avoidance Bow Sonar processing chain to provide search and identification of small objects in the water column ±60° swaths in front of the vessel. The proposed approach will develop a dual-mode broadband sonar system, capable of operating in either wide-beam or narrow parametric-beam mode. The wide-beam mode will be used for searching. Once detected, the wide-beam mode and parametric mode are used in combination to localize the object of interest. Once localized, the object is tracked in the parametric mode while being interrogated with focused broadband acoustic energy that excites resonances within the object and provides reliable classification. The proposed sonar will be capable of detecting and identifying an underwater object within a minute at ranges up to five kilometers. ANT has previously demonstrated that multiple pings on an object can produce a 10% increase in PCC with a corresponding order of magnitude reduction in PFA. This performance will be validated during Phase I using Probability of Correct Classification (PCC), Probability of Detection (PD) and Probability of False Alarm (PFA) as measures of effectiveness.