Low Size, Weight, Power, and Cost (SWAP-C) Magnetic Anomaly Detection (MAD) System
Navy SBIR FY2015.2


Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2015.2
Topic No.: N152-117
Topic Title: Low Size, Weight, Power, and Cost (SWAP-C) Magnetic Anomaly Detection (MAD) System
Proposal No.: N152-117-0466
Firm: White River Technologies
1242 Chestnut Street
Newton, Massachusetts 2464
Contact: Gregory Schultz
Phone: (603) 678-8385
Abstract: A new generation of miniaturized atomic magnetometers is being developed and integrated into naval systems such as small unmanned fixed wing and rotorcraft platforms. This project is intended to develop a magnetic anomaly detection (MAD) system unit that integrates theses sensor elements, control electronics, auxiliary or reference sensors, and digital signal processing methods into a compact form factor. The objective is to develop a system that has utility for multiple naval air assets and can be readily integrated into larger systems or used in a stand-alone fashion.
Benefits: The anticipated benefits of the proposed approach toward fully incorporating miniature magnetic sensors into MAD systems are significant for NAVAIR and other Naval and DOD system commands. The combination of established miniaturized atomic magnetometer technology coupled with the optimal supporting hardware and processing algorithms will provide an accelerated process for developing a fully integrated miniaturized magnetometer sensor package that meets the Navy�s requirements for sensitivity and operational performance. The proposed approach provides several key benefits: 1) it leverages significant DoD and Internal Research and Development (IR&D) investments in the development of miniaturized atomic sensor technology; 2) it includes a comprehensive set of design parameters that accounts for Magnetic Anomaly Detection (MAD) sensor noise spectra, flight and mission parameters, target characteristics, and background environmental noise; 3) it produces a generalized robust design framework and methodology that is relevant to a variety of platforms and operating environments as well as to other sensor systems and larger scale integration efforts; and 4) it applies a flexible software environment extensible to non-fixed wing UAV assets (e.g., MQ-8C Firescout) as well as to unmanned undersea assets (e.g., Sonobuoys, USN Mk-18 UUV's).

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