Biologic Ambient Noise and Active Clutter (BANAC) Model for Active and Passive Sonar System Performance Predictions

To address the long-standing Navy need for a biologic ambient-noise and clutter model—made acute by the advent of new high-resolution sonar sensors—ARiA and University of Washington (UW) will develop and demonstrate the feasibility of the Biologic Ambient Noise and Active Clutter (BANAC) model and associated biologic diversity density databases to extend the capabilities of existing Navy tactical decision aids (TDAs) to account for impacts of biologics on both active and passive sonar performance predictions. The Phase I effort will (1) develop a biologic ambient-noise and clutter model including the architecture, design, and algorithms necessary to demonstrate TRL 3 and identify existing and specify new biologic databases, (2) demonstrate that the model and databases are compatible with existing OAML databases and models including the Comprehensive Acoustic Simulation System (CASS) and the Range-dependent Acoustic Model (RAM), (3) establish feasibility of integrating BANAC into Navy TDAs through a case study for a representative sonar system, and (4) formulate a model-development and validation plan to include an initial design specification and capabilities description to build a TRL 6 prototype in Phase II.