This Phase I proposal is to establish the technical feasibility of developing a low-power multibeam echo sounder for small AUVs for hydrographic survey applications. The proposed approach will leverage innovative electronics, signal processing, and transducer design techniques with modern industrial and RDI-developed technologies to provide a system, which meets the technical requirements for the defined mission. The proposed system is expected to have performance capabilities similar to those typically used on surface craft and larger underwater vehicles, while being small enough to fit into an AUV with a diameter of less than 8-inches while requiring only 15W of power.
Potential Commercial Applications: Multibeam Echo Sounders for small underwater vehicles (including AUVs and UUVs); Low-cost Multibeam Echo Sounders for small surface craft; Obstacle avoidance sonars for a wide variety of AUVs and UUVs; Automatic underwater pipe and cable tracking using AUVs or ROVs
