SBIR-STTR Award

Omni Technologies, Inc. proposes to study the design feasibility of a sensor and data acquisition package to be used in the monitoring and collection of mine burial and mine burial forcing function data. The data will be used to improve military mine burial models to determine the detectability of buried mines and help define mine hunt training curriculums. The sensor and data acquisition package will collect and store data for three months with a default sampling time of once per hour. The design goals will include having minimal impact on environmental forces driving mine burial by placing sensors inside the mine or embedding them in the mine walls and to operate in any orientation and preserve the center of gravity, weight and target strength of an operational mine. The Phase I design/study will search for off-the-shelf (or slightly modified) sensors to measure acoustic energy, mine attitude, mine orientation, acceleration and water depth. Additionnally, two innovative sensors to measure percent burial and boundary layer water currents will be studied in Phase I and prototyped in the Phase I Option. A top level software design will be developed to provide for data storage, retrieval and display.

This proposal is to complete the detailed design and construct a prototype of the Weighted Oceanographic Registration Mine (WORM). The Mine is designed to be autonomously deployed for periods of up to 90 days. During that time, it will instrument and record data on acoustic energy, seismic events, burial of the mine, water flow in the vicinity of the mine, water pressure, attitude, orientation, and various engineering parameters. To this end, two specialized sensors will be built and tested: a short range high spatial resolution Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler and an acoustic Burial Sensor. Specialized transducers will be utilized in both of these and in the acoustic energy sensor. A special non-ferrous mine casing will be constructed. Most other components will be commercial off-the-shelf. The power source will be alkaline primary cells. Data storage will utilize IDE hard drives. In order to make the most efficient use of the available energy supply, a multi-processor architecture will be employed. All required embedded systems software as well topside control software and appropriate mission planning software utilizing appropriate languages will be provided.

Keywords:
MINE REGISTRATION MINE MINE COUNTERMEASURES OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTRUMENTATION MINE BURIAL MINE WARFARE ENVIRONMENTAL MEASUREMENT