Sea Power: Home on the range with SPIeR | ADM April 2012
Katherine Ziesing | Canberra
Even the threat of mine warfare is enough to send a shiver down the spine of most sailors. Survivability in this instance is a function of susceptibility, vulnerability and recoverability. Signature management, recognised under the Priority Industry Capability (PIC) framework, is about reducing susceptibility and thus avoiding being hit. Maritime ranges play an important role in providing data on developing signature management models that are then used for adjusting complex onboard systems such as degaussing and are also essential for threat assessments and planning for naval vessels.
Vessels that are deployed usually undergo some testing on a range before heading off on their mission, but it can be days or weeks before the data is usable and the conditions they operate in may not be the same as those measured on the range. The calculations and projections from this data are then really just best guesses.
Most maritime ranges rely on a garden of fixed sensors, embedded in the sea floor that a ship then has to pass over. With this in mind, DSTO has been working on the portability issue for some time now, building upon past successes from throughout the organisation. While the RAN didn’t come to DSTO with the requirement per se, the benefits of a portable system are numerous.
“If you can have a system that is light weight and deployable in an operational area, you can get the most accurate reading for the environment that the vessel will be operating in,” Dr Bryan Jessup, DSTO’s research leader for littoral warfare systems explained to ADM.
“One of the main design objectives for this latest concept was that the size and weight be reduced to be two-man portable,” Adam Fairley, mine warfare signature analyst at DSTO’s Maritime Operations Division (MOD) told ADM at Pacific 2012 Maritime show where the SPIeR unit was on display. “This was to enable the range to be quickly and easily deployed from a RHIB.”
The SPIeR weighs less than 80-kilogram in air and even less in water. The first iteration of the technology saw a 300-kilogram unit but the team has worked to reduce the size substantially to its current prototype size. A developmental version of the new prototype unit was part of a six-week trial using a NZ Navy ship last year to test various sensors at a range of locations. The main weight savings have been found through the use of low-power and tightly integrated electronics. It can be deployed in waters up to 30 meters deep.
The testing program has been a joint effort between DSTO’s Mine Warfare Systems Group and Scientific Engineering Service (SES). The two teams jointly spiral developed elements of the system with each team working on different aspects of SPIeR. “The low power design (from SES) enabled the size of the Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries to be reduced while still enabling eight hours of continuous recording capability,” Fairley said.
SPIeR builds on work that DSTO has been conducting in house for some years but also uses a range of off the shelf elements. Data is recorded from:
- Ultra Electronics gradiometer
- Bartington fluxgate magnetometer
- Hydrophone for acoustics, which is software selectable
- Paroscientific pressure sensor
- Polyamp electrodes and amplifiers
- Conductivity and temperature sensor
SPIeR is designed to run in either a stand-alone or in a cable mode. In stand-alone mode, the unit uses a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) underwater acoustic modems and transducers to enable communications with a laptop. In cable mode, the SPIeR is connected back to the laptop via a 300 meter underwater video systems optical cable.
Both deployment and recovery are quick compared with current commercial portable ranges. SPIeR can be deployed in under 30 minutes including the time required to accurately position the range. Recovery is also a quick operation, taking less than 30 minutes. Recovery is enabled through the use of a pop up Sonardyne Lightweight Release Transponder.
Currently, the team is developing a purpose built and aptly named CONtroller for SPIeR (ConSPIeR), which is built using an Arduino development board installed inside a waterproof housing. DSTO have written an iPad app called DSTO’s Underwater Acoustic Locator (DUAL). It uses the Sonardyne Lightweight Release Transponder, a deck unit and an iPad to accurately locate the SPIeR once it’s deployed. The SPIeR location is then plotted on raster marine maps on the iPad, making it quick and easy to return and recover the range.
“The use of the iPad was the idea of some of the Generation Y people in the team,” Jessup said. “This is the benefit of getting graduates in who can’t be separated from their smart phones. The app was developed in house which can then be used on a ruggedized iPad by a warfighter.”
While SPIeR is very much at the concept and prototype stage, the technology ties in well with the aims of Sea 1778 Deployable Mine Counter Measures and Sea 1180, the Offshore Combatant, as the latter project is all about missions modules rather than the actual transport platform.
“SPIeR allows us to project capability into an operational area where it’s needed,” Jessup told ADM. “It might be delivered by a ship or flown in and delivered on the back of a truck. This is the future, being able to get a capability into a modular easily transportable format.”