Low Frequency Steerable Vertical Line Array

An air-launched passive long-life A-size sonobuoy with a vertical omnidirectional sensor array designed for the low frequency band from 5 to 100 Hz will be developed. The proposed design comprises a vertical line array of 21 omnidirectional sensors and centrally-located directional sensor with an aperture of 1000 feet suspended by a small-diameter telemetry cable from a surface float. The primary emphasis of this effort is the development of the acoustic array and its associated data handling and telemetry electronics to provide a capable acoustic ASW sensor system that will deliver useful target detection information to the war fighter. The sensor array will be integrated into a full sonobuoy system, which will include the suspension and telemetry cable, the surface float, and batteries. The system will be developed throughout with full consideration of the A-size packaging constraints. Prototype over-the-side units will be fabricated and tested to demonstrate the system performance.