Sonar and Combat Systems
Today’s US undersea warfighters operate in high contact density shallow water environments against acoustically challenging threats. Current sonar and combat systems do not provide an accurate and timely tactical picture necessary to make tactical decisions required to maintain tactical control, avoid collisions and safely execute a variety of peacetime and wartime missions. Both types of missions demand sensor level data fusion to automatically determine the range and bearing to both passive and active threat emissions.
Active Intercept and Ranging System (AIRS)
MIKEL has developed the active intercept ranging system (AIRS) to determine the 3D position of an active emission from a torpedo, sonobuoy or hull mounted sonar based on signals received at distributed sensors. Our approach is to use current legacy submarine sensors arranged in a non-collinear fashion to estimate the range, bearing and depth of an active emission in a 360 degree field of view. AIRS development and testing is being conducted under a SBIR Phase III contract with NAVSEA PMS 401. Most recently testing was conducted at Seneca Lake using hydrophones arranged in a non-collinear fashion as shown below. Follow up at sea testing on US submarines is currently planned.
 |
 |
|---|