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Versatile, Reusable, Lightweight, Deployable, Passive Sensing for Littorals
Navy SBIR 2008.1 - Topic N08-059 NAVSEA - Mr. Dean Putnam - [email protected] Opens: December 10, 2007 - Closes: January 9, 2008 N08-059 TITLE: Versatile, Reusable, Lightweight, Deployable, Passive Sensing for Littorals TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Sensors, Electronics, Battlespace ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PMS 480: Naval Coastal Warfare ACAT IV & Integrated Swimmer Defense ACAT IV The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals, their country of origin, and what tasks each would accomplish in the statement of work in accordance with section 3.5.b.(7) of the solicitation. OBJECTIVE: To adapt state of the art acoustic or non-acoustic sensor technologies to develop a versatile, reusable, lightweight, deployable littoral passive sensing system to detect, classify, and track go-fast boats, small craft, commercial craft, swimmers, divers, and swimmer/diver propulsion or delivery vehicles. DESCRIPTION: The Maritime Expeditionary Security Force (MESF), as a component of the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC), will fill current warfighting gaps by providing highly trained scaleable and sustainable security teams capable of defending mission critical assets in the near-coast environment. The US Navy Acquisition Program Office for Anti-Terrorism Afloat Programs (PMS 480) in support of MESF, has identified a sensor system is required for the Navy Expeditionary Security System (NESS) Combat System Program to track surface and subsurface contacts as well as the Integrated Swimmer Defense Program to augment detection and queuing of swimmers and divers. The goal of this topic is to develop a passive, littoral sensing system that can be used by both programs and is versatile enough to detect, classify, and track potential threats including swimmers and divers, swimmer propulsion or delivery vehicles, surface craft including go-fast boats, small craft, and commercial craft. In order to support the requirements of the NESS Combat System the sensor system must have a passive acoustic sensing capability. In addition, the sensor system may leverage additional sensors to enhance capability for swimmer detection. All of these potential threats provide a variety of challenges in the often crowded and noisy littoral environment because of their speed or low observability and/or quietness. While a variety of passive sensors exist, currently none, standalone or in combination, is versatile enough to provide adequate altertment against this wide range of threats. The current sensors include sonobuoys, fiber optics, electro-optics and magnetics. Existing sensors also do not meet the operational needs of the MESF units, e.g. reusable, easily deployed/retrieved, rugged, long life, modular, etc. The innovative challenge is to provide an integrated sensor package or system comprised of one or a combination of such sensors and their associated processing. The system may be comprised of an array(s) of individual components, such as buoys with one or more sensors, with each unit having the following goals. Each unit should be deployable and retrievable by one person from a 24 to 28 foot surface craft. Compactness and ease of deployment are very important. Each unit should be automated and have the power to operate for at least 72 hours with a modular/replaceable/rechargeable battery components. Each unit should be capable of communicating with a ground-based station either via cables (copper or fiber) or via standard RF communications links such as a US Navy sonobuoy radio or cell phone modem. In addition, the sensor should be able to report geo-location (e.g. GPS), be capable of anchoring at a fixed geo-location, and have a remote-controlled light/beacon for location and retrieval. The system sensor must be able to cover the range of depth settings from 10 feet to 300f feet If the system includes a flotation subsystem, it should be modular/inflatable/replaceable/rechargeable. The system should have the capability to detect, classify, localize, and track: surface craft at a range of at least two miles; swimmers and divers at a range of at least 200 yards; and swimmer/diver propulsion vehicles at a range of at least 500 yards. The passive acoustic sensing capability of the sensor should be able to resolve the direction of the source. The goal of the system is to be able to cover five linear miles of shoreline or be able to be deployed as discrete sensors that operate within line-of-sight of the shore station receiver. The system itself does not have to be difficult to detect, so its visibility is not an issue. Since multiple units would be procured, affordability is a key concern. The system is expected to complement radar and electro-optic/infrared (EO/IR) sensing systems; however, such systems are not a part of this topic. The sensor packages will be placed at remote locations in the field and will be required to be unclassified. It is unforeseeable that the product as a result of Phase II will be classified or access to classified material will be required. PHASE I: Develop a specific sensing system design including hardware and software. Identify the high risk technical challenges and provide breadboard evidence of the ability to meet them. PHASE II: Produce a prototype unit and test it in a real-life environment against a full range of targets. Finalize the concept design and make recommendations for Phase III production-oriented designs. PHASE III: Produce and conduct integrated testing of close-to-production model system. Transition the technology to a PMS480 acquisition program. SECRET clearance may be required for Phase III. PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: In the ever increasingly complex littoral/harbor environment acoustic sensors will become a vital addition to detect surface and sub-surface contacts and help correlate and segregate contact tracks from other maritime sensors. Much of the technology and its integration, as developed under this effort, will be applicable to homeland defense, law enforcement, and private-security systems. REFERENCES: 2. Sonobuoy Technical Manual, NAVAIR 28-SSQ-500-1 (can be obtained via: http://www.tourohio.com/fleetaw/BibResources.html) 3. Ultra Electronics Sonobuoy radio data sheet: (Available at: http://www.flightline-systems.com/pdf/wide_band_brochure_april_2007.pdf) 4. Feature based passive acoustic detection of underwater threats. Proc. of SPIE Vol. 6204, 620408, (2006) (Available at: http://www.stevens.edu/engineering/ceoe/fileadmin/ceoe/pdf/rustam_publications/DiverDetectionSPIE.pdf) 5. Assessing the Risk in U.S. Ports, Marine Technology Reporter, September 2005 (Available at: http://www.mtronline.net/MTIssues/mt200509o2.pdf) 6. Passive Swimmer Detection (Available at: http://www.nrl.navy.mil/content.php?P=04REVIEW97) KEYWORDS: Acoustic; Sonobuoy; Sensor; Hydrophone; DIFAR; Undersea TPOC: TIM BUSCH
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