Abstract:

In early 1992, Nautronix, participated in bidding for the Underway Radiated Noise Range (URNR) tender issued by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The tender document stipulated a radiated noise range capable of meeting the most stringent performance requirements. After assessing all of the bids the Commonwealth declined to award a contract on the basis that none of the submissions could demonstrate an adequate figure of merit. Nautronix subsequently proposed a ranging system employing synthetic aperture principles to achieve additional processing gain and reduce the complexity of the in-water system. With funding and assistance from the RAN the program has successfully progressed through a series of discrete phases to the development of the Shallow Acoustic Underway Range (SAUR), soon to be deployed at Thistle Island in South Australia. The range will fulfill all of the performance requirements of the original URNR, with the additional benefit of localization of sources on the vessel being ranged. SAUR will be used for ongoing RAN ranging activities. Both physical and synthetic arrays are employed. The presentation will discuss some of the requirements and performance capabilities of a synthetic array and present some of the results achieved during the development process and subsequent trials.