NASA THREE DIMENSIONAL UNDERWATER POSITIONING SYSTEM

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A THREE-DIMENSIONAL, UNDERWATER POSITIONING SYSTEM WILL BE BASED ON MODIFICATIONS OF THE 300KHZ, SONIC, HIGH-ACCURACY POSITIONING SYSTEM (SHARPS) TO OPERATE AT 1MHZ IN ORDER TO OBTAIN THE REQUIRED RESOLUTION. THE MODIFICATIONS WILL PROVIDE THE PRECISION REQUIRED BY NASA TO DETECT TARGETS AT DISTANCES UP TO 75 FEET, WITH A RESOLUTION OF 0.063 INCHES. THE 1-MHZ, SONIC-SENSOR SYSTEM WILL PROVIDE ACCURATE THREE-DIMENSIONAL MEASUREMENTS FOR NASA DURING HARDWARE DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING AT THE NEUTRAL BUOYANCY SIMULATOR. THE MODIFIED SHARPS TRANSDUCER, COMBINED WITH THE MODIFIED SHARPS SOFTWARE, WILL PROVIDE ACCURATE THREE-DIMENSIONAL MEASUREMENTS TO INTERFACE WITH AND DRIVE THE NASA COMPUTER-CONTROLLED EQUIPMENT. THE NEW HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE MODIFICATIONS WILL UNDERGO VERIFICATION, VALIDATION, AND DEVELOPMENT TESTING FOLLOWED BY AN ON-SITE DEMONSTRATION OF THE 1-MHZ SHARPS SYSTEM AT MSFC. DURING THE ON-SITE DEMONSTRATION, A COMPLETE ASSESSMENT OF THE MSFCSYSTEM REQUIREMENTS WILL BE DETERMINED FOR THE PHASE II EFFORTS. THE DEVELOPMENT OF A THREE-DIMENSIONAL, UNDERWATER POSITIONING SYSTEM WILL BE BASED ON MODIFICATIONS OF THE 300KHZ, SONIC, HIGH-ACCURACY POSITIONING SYSTEM (SHARPS) TO OPERATE AT 1MHZ IN ORDER TO OBTAIN THE REQUIRED RESOLUTION. THE MODIFICATIONS WILL PROVIDE THE PRECISION REQUIRED BY NASA TO DETECT TARGETS AT DISTANCES UP TO 75 FEET, WITH A RESOLUTION OF 0.063 INCHES. THE 1-MHZ, SONIC-SENSOR SYSTEM WILL PROVIDE ACCURATE THREE-DIMENSIONAL MEASUREMENTS FOR NASA DURING HARDWARE DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING AT THE NEUTRAL BUOYANCY SIMULATOR. THE MODIFIED SHARPS TRANSDUCER, COMBINED WITH THE MODIFIED SHARPS SOFTWARE, WILL PROVIDE ACCURATE THREE-DIMENSIONAL MEASUREMENTS TO INTERFACE WITH AND DRIVE THE NASA COMPUTER-CONTROLLED EQUIPMENT. THE NEW HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE MODIFICATIONS WILL UNDERGO VERIFICATION, VALIDATION, AND DEVELOPMENT TESTING FOLLOWED BY AN ON-SITE DEMONSTRATION OF THE 1-MHZ SHARPS SYSTEM AT MSFC. DURING THE ON-SITE DEMONSTRATION, A COMPLETE ASSESSMENT OF THE MSFCSYSTEM REQUIREMENTS WILL BE DETERMINED FOR THE PHASE II EFFORTS.