AUTOMATED ACOUSTIC DETECTION AND PROCESSING FOR THE ADVANCED RANGE INSTRUMENTATION AIRCRAFT SONOBUOY MISSILE IMPACT LOCATION SYSTEM

Abstract

Recent advances in acoustic detection and array processing have led to a new, state of the art, Sonobuoy Missile Impact Location System (SMILS). This system was developed for the 4950th Test Wing by E-Systems and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory to support ballistic missile testing in broad ocean areas. The hardware and software required to perform the SMILS mission were developed in two different areas: 1) The flight system, installed aboard the Advanced Range Instrumentation Aircraft (ARIA), which provides everything necessary to guide the aircraft to the target area of Deep Ocean Transponders (DOTs), deploy sonobuoys, recover signals from the sonobuoys, and to process the recovered signals. The sonobuoy positions and impact locations of reentry vehicles are determined aboard the aircraft in real-time by telemetering the acoustic signals sent from the sonobuoys via Radio Frequency (RF) link to the aircraft. These acoustic signals are also recorded on analog tape in the aircraft. 2) The Post Mission Analysis System (PMAS), located at the 4950th Test Wing, processes the analog tapes recorded by the aircraft to do more sophisticated Processing than that performed on the aircraft, providing higher resolution of impact times and positions. This paper addressees the theory of PMAS operation and the specific approach used to perform automated acoustic detection of both narrow and wide band acoustic signals. It also addressees the processing technique employed to determine sonobuoy navigation and impact scoring.