PROCESSOR INTEGRATION ENHANCES UNMANNED UNDERWATER VEHICLES

HYDROID INTEGRATES HISAS 2040 MODULE WITH IN-MISSION PROCESSOR ONTO A REMUS 600 UNMANNED UNDERWATER VEHICLE

The in-mission processor (pictured in red) allows real-time processing of HISAS data, giving operators the ability to download high-resolution images immediately when the vehicle returns from its mission.

Unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) play a crucial role within the defense space with their ability to carry out unique missions. UUVs provide many advantages to the fleet with their autonomy and long endurance, making missions safer and easier to accomplish. Their modularity allows for them to be outfitted with different payloads for varying mission requirements.

The REMUS 600 UUV from Hydroid, Inc. is positively buoyant and is designed to operate to depths of 600 meters. With mission duration capability of up to 24 hours, the REMUS 600 delivers unprecedented endurance. Sonar technology is used on these UUVs to capture images for organic mine countermeasure, hydrographic surveys, area searches, and surveillance and reconnaissance.

HISAS 2040 provides up to 2cm by 2cm resolution across a 300-meter swath. Synthetic aperture sonar uses algorithms to synthetically lengthen the aperture, providing consistent resolution across the entire swath, both along and across track, as opposed to traditional real aperture side scan sonars. Because of the high resolution of HISAS, the files are very large and can take several hours to download after a mission is complete.

To help solve this problem, Hydroid, Inc. integrated an in-mission processor on a REMUS 600 Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) with the KONGSBERG High-Resolution Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Sonar (HISAS) 2040.

With the in-mission processor, HISAS data is processed and compressed in real-time along with the navigation data, allowing immediate download of the sonar imagery when the vehicle returns from its mission through a 10GB Ethernet switch. This is ideal for time-sensitive missions like mine countermeasures, where faster data access means safer, more efficient operations. Other HISAS applications include hydrographic surveys, pipeline inspection and rapid environmental assessment.