TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Sensors, Battlespace

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: Sonar Automation

RESTRICTION ON PERFORMANCE BY FOREIGN CITIZENS (i.e., those holding non-U.S. Passports): This topic is "ITAR Restricted." The information and materials provided pursuant to or resulting from this topic are restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120 - 130, which control the export of defense-related material and services, including the export of sensitive technical data. Foreign Citizens may perform work under an award resulting from this topic only if they hold the "Permanent Resident Card", or are designated as "Protected Individuals" as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3). If a proposal for this topic contains participation by a foreign citizen who is not in one of the above two categories, the proposal will be rejected.

OBJECTIVE: Develop and demonstrate sonar processing technology capable of exploiting noise (e.g., active transmissions) from other platforms in a Navy strike group operating area.

DESCRIPTION: Most traditional Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) active systems process data from organic sensors with full knowledge of their own transmissions. However the systems are often deployed in proximity to other active systems, as in a carrier or expeditionary strike group.

Surface combatant active processing and displays do not currently leverage echoes from off-board sources, such as other combatants in the strike group. The ability to leverage the echoes from other ship's transmissions could improve ASW performance. Alternately, ships could retain current performance while reducing the amount of acoustic energy they emit, reducing the environmental impact on marine species.

This topic seeks innovative concepts and active signal processing technologies to improve overall strike group ASW performance by using the full spectrum of energy being transmitted from other sources. Combining these additional detection opportunities with existing monostatic active systems should lead to faster time to detect, longer holding time, and improved track performance.

PHASE I: Develop approaches for a Navy strike group multi-source active processing concept to exploit multi-source transmissions. Demonstrate the feasibility of implementing the proposed concept with simulated or real data.

PHASE II: Develop, demonstrate and validate the strike group active processing in a prototype software baseline suitable for real-time operation. Conduct proof of concept with simulated and pre-recorded sea test data. Assess performance using quantitative measures of performance, and participate in a peer-review evaluation process.

PHASE III: Integrate and test software in a real-time environment via the Advanced Capability Build (ACB), Advanced Processor Build (APB) program, or other program specified by the US Navy.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: Active sonar systems for port security and oceanographic survey.

REFERENCES:
1. Urick, R., "Principles of underwater Sound," McGraw Hill, 3rd Edition.

2. Urban, H. G., "Adaptive Methods in Underwater Acoustics," Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Adaptive Methods in Underwater Acoustics, July 1984

3. Hemple, Christian, "Adaptive Track Detection for Multi-Static Active Sonar Systems."

4. John L. Spiesberger, "Geometry of locating sounds from differences in travel time: Isodiachrons", J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 116 (5), Nov 2004

KEYWORDS: Active Sonar, Signal Processing, Multi-statics, Bi-statics, Directional Noise, Multi-ship ASW Operations, Marine Species

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

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