Novel Breakers Utilizing Piezoresistive Composite Materials

Cost- and time-effective mine countermeasures (MCM) are of great interest to the Navy. The ability to rapidly sweep wide areas and provide accurate threat detection and classification is critical to an effective MCM system. Current biologically basedsystems perform extremely accurate classification, but require extensive operator/trainer interaction. The goal of this Phase I SBIR effort is to develop an adaptive acoustic (AA) mine-hunting system comprised of a high-resolution wide-area searchtransducer coupled with advanced real-time image processing and biomimetic classification algorithms. Preliminary work has shown both the feasibility and potential of this approach. The goal of this Phase I effort is to build an integrated sonar systemcapable of automatically detecting and classifying buried targets using complementary sonar spatial imagery and acoustic time series signal processing. The planned Phase I effort includes development of algorithms for image processing and acousticbiomimetic target classification, collection of acoustic survey data of buried targets, and development of a processing engine capable of fusing the imagery and acoustic processing chains to reduce false alarms. Phase II tasks include continued datacollection for performance evaluations, algorithm enhancement, and development of a real-time hardware implementation of the system. The project will culminate in an at-sea test.The technologies described in this proposal have utility in a wide range ofcommercial applications, including beach and shoreline analysis; planning and design of coastal facilities such as harbors, marinas, breakwaters, and ocean sewage outfalls; location of undersea pipelines and cables; underwater environmental monitoring; andremediation of offshore areas of military test ranges for public access.