A Passive Feedback Mechanism for Use in Compliant Foil Multi-line Towed Arrays

The acoustic performance of a long, slender towed acoustic array can be greatly enhanced by distributing the hydrophones over a 3-D volume rather than as a 2-D single-line. In order to improve the acoustic performance and resolution of present systems, there is great motivation to develop multi-line towed acoustic arrays that can be towed from the same platforms that are presently used to tow the single-line arrays. Compliant force devices can develop the forces necessary to spread multi-line towed arrays. There are two crucial components to a successful compliant foil towed army system. The first component consists of the compliant foils, which provide sufficient force to spread the multi-line array. The second component is the passive feedback system that provides proper dynamic stability of the entire towed system. Both components must be designed to interact compatibly with each other, and offer robust and reliable performance over the entire operational envelope of the towed array. This proposal addresses the research and development associated with the concept evolution of a passive feedback device to be used for the stabilization of compliant foil multi-line towed arrays.