Abstract: The invention is a two wire telemetry system for an entire towed underwater acoustic sonar array system wherein power and data signals are now shared on a single wire (with a second wire as return) throughout the towed array. Ship electrical power is transmitted from a direct current source onto the tow cable for all of the array nodes to operate on. Downlink commands are also sent to the array nodes via the tow cable. Uplink data is sent up the tow cable to the towing vessel for data storage. A bi-directional time sharing communication protocol allows each node on the array as well as the command and control on the towing vessel a portion of time to transmit signals.

Abstract: A high performance solid-state heading sensor for underwater towed arrays is taught that combines high quality MEMS sensor components with data processing filters to resolve performance limitations present in prior art heading sensors. The heading sensor employs rate gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetometers and a customized Kalman filter formulation implemented on a micro-controller to improve performance in determining the roll, pitch and heading of a towed array.

Abstract: An acoustic ranging system and method of use is provided that measures the magnitude of the separation of a pair of towed acoustic line arrays at a discrete point along the length of each array. One array acts as the measurement source, while the other array acts as a frequency-shifted echo repeater. The source array incorporates one sonar transmitter and two sonar receivers. The system further includes a configurable frequency shifter that enables one measurement source to make measurements with multiple repeater arrays.

Abstract: A sonar sensor array is provided that has reduced power consumption, data bandwidth and data storage requirements. The sensor array may be configured to a sleep mode, low-resolution mode and high-resolution mode. In the sleep mode, all sonar sensors are configured in the sleep mode and no acoustic signals are detected. In the low-resolution mode, a limited number of sonar sensors are powered and acoustic signals received by the sonar sensors are processed with reduced bandwidth and reduced dynamic range, and then stored on a data storage device. In the high-resolution mode, the acoustic signals detected by the sonar sensors are processed with full signal bandwidth and full dynamic range and then stored on the data storage device.

Abstract: An acoustic ranging system and method of use is provided that measures the magnitude of the separation of a pair of towed acoustic line arrays at a discrete point along the length of each array. One array acts as the measurement source, while the other array acts as a frequency-shifted echo repeater. The source array incorporates one sonar transmitter and two sonar receivers. The system further includes a configurable frequency shifter that enables one measurement source to make measurements with multiple repeater arrays.