Deep-sea sonar technology for advanced anti-submarine warfare is aim of DARPA DSOP program

Posted by John Keller

ARLINGTON, Va., 17 Jan. 2010.Ocean sensor specialists at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., are asking the defense industry for revolutionary advances in extremely deep-operating undersea surveillance systems to protect U.S. Navy aircraft carriers and their support vessels from quiet enemy attack submarines.

DARPA issued a broad agency announcement (DARPA-BAA-10-20) Friday called Deep Sea Operations (DSOP) for deep-ocean surveillance submarine warfare technologies involving sonar and non-acoustic sensors that take advantage of unique signal propagation in the deep ocean.

Navy fixed-site undersea sensor systems today include the Fixed Distributed System (FDS) and the Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS), which are used in ocean choke points in the Caribbean as well as the straits between Greenland, Iceland, Greenland, and the United Kingdom -- commonly referred to as the GIUK Gap.

For the Deep Sea Operations (DSOP) program, DARPA scientists want to use deep-sea areas known as the sound fixing and ranging channel -- also known as the deep sound channel -- that exists at ocean depths below about 3,000 feet where the water is cold, silent, and dense, and where the speed of sound is at its slowest.

Conditions in these areas act as a sound waveguide that enables low-frequency sound waves to travel for thousands of miles. DARPA wants to develop sensors that essentially look upward through this acoustically silent environment to detect the low-frequency sounds of enemy submarines against a quiet background at long ranges.

DARPA experts assume that deep-ocean areas are particularly advantageous for sound navigation and ranging technologies -- sonar for short -- yet will accept non-acoustic solutions, as well.

Goals of the program include the ability to achieve long-range detection and classification of submarines; the means to communicate underwater over long distances; and the ability to manage electrical energy to operate in hostile deep-ocean conditions for long periods.

Technologies developed under the Deep Sea Operations programs must result in sensors that operate near the ocean bottom; take advantage of distributed nodes; that can be configured to a range of operations, and environments; and adapts to the mobility of friendly and enemy submarines and surface warships.

Proposers must have at least a secret facility clearance and the capability to conduct secret-level research.

Phase 1 of the DARPA Deep Sea Operations program involves architecture studies that describe performance limitations, describe subsystem technologies, and identify developmental risks.

Descriptions should involve sensors and processing; communications among the system's sensor nodes, as well as and among nodes and aircraft, submarines, ships, and land bases; mobility issues; and energy harvesting, re-supplying, and storage.

This research project will last about six months, and will include at-sea testing and measurement. Those interested must respond to DARPA no later than 4 p.m. eastern time on 1 March 2010, to DARPA/STO, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, Va. 22203-1714 (Attn.: DARPA-BAA10-20).

Interested companies may schedule 20-minute meetings to discuss their proposal ideas on 19, 20, 27, and 28 Jan. Request meetings through the BAA Website at www.solers.com/BAAinfo-reg/dsop/.

For questions or concerns, contact DARPA's Andy Coon by e-mail at [email protected], or by post at DARPA/STO, ATTN: DARPA-BAA-10-20, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, Va. 22203-1714.

More information is online at https://www.fbo.gov/spg/ODA/DARPA/CMO/DARPA-BAA-10-20/listing.html. A downloadable .pdf.

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