Exploration of Sources of Opportunity for Submarine Sonar Systems

Marine Acoustics. Inc. (MAI), proposes applying existing passive acoustic localization technology originally developed for marine mammal tracking to submarine sonar applications. The commercial scientific processor technology developed by MAI will be adapted for integration into a submarine combat system to provide a multistatic processing capability that does not require external coordinating data to effectively process the reflected target data. The same architecture will also process transient data in real time. The feasibility of this concept has already been demonstrated, so the technical thrust of phase I efforts will include identifying the underlying capability and physics necessary to permit the multistatic and transient processing to be tactically effective; identifying the characteristics of the proposed product to ensure that it meets the operational and logistical requirements of the submarine and surface ship forces; defining the interface requirements to ensure compatibility with existing submarine and surface ship sensor suites; and developing supporting tactics and employment guidance.