Implementation and testing of a Deep Water Correlation Velocity Sonar
The paper describes a new sonar designated the Magnavox MX 810 Deep Water Correlation Sonar which is under development by the General Electric Company and the Magnavox Advanced Products and Systems Company. The sonar measures ship's velocity relative to the bottom but instead of using the conventional doppler effect, it uses the correlation method described by Dickey and Edward in 1978. In this method, the narrow beams required for doppler are not needed and a low frequency that penetrates to the bottom in deep water is used. The sonar was designed with the constraint that it use a transducer that mounts through a single 12 inch gate valve. Most offshore geophysical surveys at present make use of an integrated navigation system with bottom referenced velocity input from a doppler sonar which, because of limitations on the sonar bottomtracking range, has difficulty in areas where the water depth is greater than about 500 meters. The MX 810 provides bottom tracking in regions of much greater water depth. It also may be applied as an aid in continuous positioning of a vessel over a fixed location. It also should prove useful as a more general navigation aid. The sonar is undergoing a series of tests using Magnavox's facilities for the purpose of verifying the performance and obtaining data to support and quantify planned improvements in both software and hardware. A prototype transducer of only 5 watts power output was used, but in spite of this low power, successful operation to depths of 1900 meters was obtained. Extrapolation to system parameters to be implemented in production models predicts operation to depths of 5000 meters.
- Research Organization:
- General Electric Co.
- OSTI ID:
- 5180688
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-830514-
- Journal Information:
- Offshore Technol. Conf.; (United States), Vol. 3; Conference: Offshore technology conference, Houston, TX, USA, 2 May 1983
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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