Air ASW operators require next generation (NexGen) sonobuoys that apply modern technology for greater performance in demanding new environments and against stealthier targets. To that end the buoys require internally processed data (tactical information) than the current family of buoys, additionally the number of sonobuoys in an ASW field will grow along with the ocean volume covered by the sensor field. This combination of a greater number and types of sensors, higher quality data, and in-buoy processing makes it difficult to adapt current technology to adequately collect the sonobuoy sensor tactical information. Not only will multi-sensor sonobuoys detect acoustic and non-acoustic signals, we expect the data from the multi-sensor NexGen sonobuoys to be used to create complex virtual underwater scenes in real-time
Benefit: The system described should significantly lower the cost and improve the effectiveness of Air ASW future buoys will have greater performance and crews will be more effective. The successful completion will result in the identification of sensor elements of all major components, as well as a practicable structure to include them in a production-sized unit.
Keywords: Non-acoustic, Non-acoustic, electric field, COTS Sensors, Acoustic, Fiber optics, magnetic field, ASW workload, Multi-sensor
