Advanced Forward Looking Sonar for Unmanned Vehicles

The Remote Minehunting System (RMS) AN/WLD-1(V)1 vehicle (RMV) currently does not have a forward-looking sonar (FLS) or any other underwater obstacle avoidance sensor. This means that the RMV itself, while towing a sonar array, will be “flying blind” in littoral environments that are expected to have mines and other obstacles. Operating without an FLS poses a significant risk to the vehicle and therefore to the RMS mission. The addition of an FLS to the RMV will eliminate this risk. Sonatech is in a unique position to manufacture a prototype FLS system for the RMS application that incorporates the state-of-the-art technology and features of the design developed by Sonatech in Phase I of this project. This is because Sonatech has extensive experience in high-performance FLS design and manufacture for a number of critical applications. Sonatech has successfully completed Phase I of the program by proving the feasibility of the concept with transducer prototypes test data, system performance analyses, system design specification which all serve as the basis for the production of a prototype FLS in Phase II.