Comments: download pdf
file .
Ref.: Proc. Underwater Defence Technology,
UDT'2006,
(ISBN:), p., Hamburg, Germany, June 2006.
Abstract : The AOB - Acoustic Oceanographic Buoy is the single
node of a network of ``smart'' buoys for acoustic surveillance, Rapid
Environmental Assessment (REA) and underwater communications. The AOB
is a lightweight surface buoy with a vertical array of acoustic
receivers and temperature sensors to be air dropped or hand deployed
from a small boat. The received data is geotime and GPS precisely
marked, locally stored and processed by on board dedicated DSP
hardware. AOBs can exchange data over a local area network that
includes submerged, sea surface (like for instance other AOBs) and air
or land located nodes, allowing for the integration of all users in a
seamless network. Specific software allows AOB usage in complex tasks
such as passive or multistatic acoustic surveillance, acoustic
observations for REA oceanographic forecast and model calibration,
bottom and water column acoustic inversion, underwater communications
and cooperating target tracking. The AOB was successfully deployed in
several consecutive days during two Maritime REA sea trials in 2003
(Mediterranean), in 2004 (Atlantic) and for an high-frequency
underwater communications experiment during MakaiEX, 2005 (Hawai). Data
collected at sea shows that the AOB is a versatile, robust and easy to
use tool for a variety of broadband underwater acoustic applications.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT: this work was partially supported by FCT projects NUACE - POSI/CPS/47824/2002 and RADAR - POCTI/CTA/47719/2002 and the Royal Netherlands Navy - REA (RNLNC/2003/04).