Environmnetal Assessments & Mitigation of Naval Operations (Air & Surface)

"SBIR N00-014 addresses the problem of developing a tool that canprovide environmental assessments in support of the deploymentand operation of active sonar systems. DSR's proposed productwill initially target support of the MH-60R Airborne LowFrequency Sonar (ALFS). The design of the product will be modularso that functions that address unique MH-60R characteristics areeasily separable from the basic environmental assessmentcapability. The proposed environmental assessment capability isbased on an existing product that tracks both the acoustic sourceand the animals' movements, estimating the incident soundintensity and resulting impact on the animals. The productinterfaces to a propagation model (selected based on theparticular sonar system) to characterize the acoustic propagationand combines this information with models of the migrationhabits, behavior and physiology of various animal species.Incorporation of information such as ocean characteristics,weather patterns and actual animal sightings are also included inthe design. The product is modular enough to accommodate anyacoustic propagation model and to support other sonar systemssimply by modifying the functions that interface theenvironmental assessment functions to the unique processingalgorithms, interfaces, communication channels and OMI of theselected sonar system. BENEFITS: Completion of this effort will result in development of a tool that provides an environmental asses