RUMBLE-2 Project : Rapid Environment Assessment of Sea Bottom Parameters Using an Operational Active Low-Frequency Sonar
conference paper
This paper presents the European Defence Agency project called “RUMBLE 2” carried out with contribution of
several European organizations: TUS in France, TNO in the Netherlands, KDS and FFI in Norway, FOI in
Sweden. The objective was to assess the capability of an operational Low Frequency Active Sonar (LFAS) to
estimate bottom parameters in shallow water necessary to predict LFAS performance. An inversion method
based on the observation of broadside beam reverberation power decay received on a towed array was developed
by TNO and applied to experimental results obtained in the North Sea. The result of the inversion is a real time
mapping of sea bed parameters, used for improving the prediction of the sonar performance. A demonstrator has
been realized, mounted onboard a new Norwegian frigate, using a CAPTAS triplet array sonar and tested at sea.
Satisfying agreement with ground truth has been obtained over the set of investigated data. Experimental results
lead to a good description of the sea bed reverberation parameters in real time resulting in improved sonar
performance predictions. During sea trials, the demonstrator has shown its capability to be used during standard
missions of the frigate.
several European organizations: TUS in France, TNO in the Netherlands, KDS and FFI in Norway, FOI in
Sweden. The objective was to assess the capability of an operational Low Frequency Active Sonar (LFAS) to
estimate bottom parameters in shallow water necessary to predict LFAS performance. An inversion method
based on the observation of broadside beam reverberation power decay received on a towed array was developed
by TNO and applied to experimental results obtained in the North Sea. The result of the inversion is a real time
mapping of sea bed parameters, used for improving the prediction of the sonar performance. A demonstrator has
been realized, mounted onboard a new Norwegian frigate, using a CAPTAS triplet array sonar and tested at sea.
Satisfying agreement with ground truth has been obtained over the set of investigated data. Experimental results
lead to a good description of the sea bed reverberation parameters in real time resulting in improved sonar
performance predictions. During sea trials, the demonstrator has shown its capability to be used during standard
missions of the frigate.
Topics
TNO Identifier
462540
Source title
Proceedings of the Maritime Security, Systems and Technology conference MAST Europe 2011, June 27-29, Marseille,
France
France
Files
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