Light Weight Coastal Topographic/ Bathymetric Charting System for Naval Unmanned Airborne Vehicles

Arete Associates has developed a compact lightweight lidar system for precision bathymetry and topography suitable for operation from a small tactical unmanned aerial vehicle. The subject of this Phase 2 SBIR is to adapt this existing system to perform submarine detection, classification, and localization. System adaptations include hardware upgrades to optimize ASW performance, implementation of optimal submarine detection algorithms into an on-board real-time processing system, and direct demonstration of the ASW capability by open ocean flights over representative submarine targets.Arete Associates has participated in virtually every program in airborne lidar for ocean remote sensing since the mid-1980s, and is the leading developer of blue-green lidar systems for the US Navy for mine detection applications such as the Airborne Laser Mine Detection System (ALMDS). By leveraging the operational experience with ASW lidar systems, the engineering expertise with airborne mine countermeasure systems, and the innovative designs of the compact lightweight bathymetric lidar, this SBIR provides an outstanding opportunity for the direct demonstration of the utility of a small compact lidar for real-time submarine detection and classification.