Hydraulically Extended Longeron Isogrid matriX (HELIX)

The US Navy requires on-demand acoustic sensing throughout the world’s oceans to identify, localize, and track adversary submarines. An improved hydrophone array that maintains the current A-size Sonobuoy payload form factor would be of high value to the Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) community. Boston Engineering Corporation has developed the Hydraulically Extended Longeron Isogrid matriX (HELIX) program to model, simulate, build, and test a novel sonobuoy payload system that provides a significant expansion ratio. Boston Engineering proposes a deployable structure that is highly stable, resists bending, and is inherently torsion resistant for structural evaluation, acoustic analysis, and scaled testing. Boston Engineering and our team (Dr. Henrik Schmidt, Moonprint Solutions, and Ultra USSI) apply our collective understanding of maritime hydraulic inflation, acoustics simulation, softgoods, and high quantity sonobuoy fabrication to streamline efforts, decrease overall technical risk, and maximize the potential for transition.