High Precision Water Impact Locator

Research Support Instruments (RSI) proposed to use its expertise in systems integration to develop a hydrophone based sonic detection system which is capable of determining the location of a munitions impact in water to accuracy approaching one foot. The task of determining the location of a sound source in water is of general interest for the marine community, since this capability could be used for autonavigation systems, hazard proximity alarms, marine life detection, policing of protected environments, and a variety of other remote sensing applications. Locating the point of entry of a munitions impacting water is one particular application of this more general skill. The particular detection system sought by topic AF96-203 of the current DOD SBIR solicition provides RSI with an opportunity to assemble an integrated product development team whose members have experience in a variety of related areas including acoustic transport, hydrophone detector sytems, munitions and high velocity impacts, marine hardware and marine navigation systems, software development, and systems integration.