Defence Security

Advanced Acoustic Concepts selects Sonardyne for underwater target tracking

Posted 30 November 2021

Undersea weapon, sensors and integrated systems specialist Advanced Acoustic Concepts has chosen underwater positioning technology from maritime technology company Sonardyne to work for the US Department of Defense (DoD).

Above: Sonardyne’s Micro-Ranger 2 USBL system contains everything you need to track divers, ROVS and AUVs in a rugged case small enough to operate-anywhere, from anything.
Photo by Tom Acton / Sonardyne

Advanced Acoustic Concepts chose Sonardyne’s portable Micro-Ranger 2 Ultra-Short Baseline (USBL) system following a market review of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTs) systems suitable for its needs, particularly around supporting its existing DoD programs and providing its operatives with increased situational awareness during open ocean missions

Micro-Ranger 2 is designed to provide everything needed to start tracking divers, remotely operated vehicles, autonomous or unmanned underwater vehicles or any other subsea targets, all from a single IP-67-rated ruggedised case small enough to operate anywhere, from anything.

It can track up to 10 targets to over 3,000 ft (995 m) and comes complete with a surface-deployed Micro-Ranger Transceiver, a GNSS antenna, and two of Sonardyne’s smallest transponders, the Nano. The one-box solution also houses a built-in battery to support more than 10 hours of continuous use, as well as ethernet and Wi-Fi connectivity to connect to a user’s laptop for fast and easy tracking.

Dan Zatezalo, Technical Sales Manager for Sonardyne in the US, said: “We’re really excited to be supporting the work of such a technically strong company as Advanced Acoustic Concepts, which plays a critical part in supporting the US Navy.

“COTS equipment is playing an increasing role in supporting wider military operations and systems like Micro-Ranger 2 are part of that eco-system; providing navies globally with affordable, easy to acquire, mobilize, and dependable maritime technologies.

“The flexibility of the hardware platform and secure digital signal architecture inside Micro-Ranger 2 means that customers can also benefit from being able to use and integrate our different navigation, communications and control mission systems, seamlessly, all with technical and application support from our facilities in the US.”

Advanced Acoustic Concepts, which is based in New York and has facilities in Maryland and Pennsylvania, is co-owned by Leonardo DRS and Thales.