RDA INC. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase II: N101-042

Description

The U.S. Navy requires a new Environmental Wideband Acoustic Receiver and Source (EWARS) sensor to facilitate gathering environmental data from Navy ASW platforms. The EWARS F6 sensor provides enhanced operational capability with improvements in directional information and enhanced echolocation in 3-dimensional space with incorporation of the directional and depth estimation features of the Turtle Algorithm. Beyond the EWARS mission lies its potential application to tactical Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) with the use of 3-D tracking, shallow water echo parameter estimation and Roll-On/Roll-Off Mission Processing. Together, EWARS provides significant capability not currently satisfied by legacy, enhanced legacy or other EWARS activity, bringing significant tactical capability to the fixed and rotary wing ASW mission.As part of the development, the EWARS F6 sonobuoy will be enhanced with the incorporation of NATO-compatible upper electronics, enhanced in-buoy signal processing and associated circuit board consolidation, in a true A-size form factor. The EWARS F6 sonobuoy and Turtle Algorithm will be further investigated for tactical applications, and the Turtle Algorithm will be investigated and further developed for tactical use with non-EWARS sonobuoys. End-to-end testing will be performed in-water, as well as environmental testing and over-the-side and air-drop testing of the EWARS sonobuoy in a representative environment.