US 5,894,450 AGranted

Mobile underwater arrays

AssigneeMassachusetts Institute of Technology

InventorsHenrik Schmidt, James G. Bellingham, James W. Bales

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Abstract

An oceanographic sampling system includes two or more underwater vehicles disposed in an array and an array controller for controlling the array of underwater vehicles as data is acquired. Each underwater vehicle includes a propulsion system for moving the underwater vehicle independently of the other underwater vehicles, a sensor for sensing an ocean parameter and providing sensor data representative of the ocean parameter as the underwater vehicle moves, a navigation subsystem for determining position data representative of the position of the underwater vehicle as the sensor data is acquired and a synchronizing subsystem for time synchronizing the sensor data and the position data acquired by the underwater vehicle with sensor data and position data acquired by other underwater vehicles. The array of underwater vehicles may function as a large aperture phased array, and phased array analysis techniques may be applied to the time-synchronized sensor data and position data.

Claims46

Dependent claims

An oceanographic sampling system comprising:

a plurality of underwater vehicles disposed in an array having an array configuration, each underwater vehicle including a propulsion system for moving said underwater vehicle independently of other ones of said underwater vehicles, a sensor for sensing an ocean parameter and providing sensor data representative of the ocean parameter, a navigation subsystem for determining relative position data representative of the position of said underwater vehicle relative to other ones of said underwater vehicles as said sensor data is acquired and a synchronizing subsystem for time synchronizing the sensor data and the relative position data acquired by said underwater vehicle with sensor data and relative position data acquired by other ones of said underwater vehicles;
and
array control means for controlling said array of said underwater vehicles as said time-synchronized sensor data and relative position data are acquired, wherein said control means comprises means for controlling operation of said array of underwater vehicles as a unit such that said underwater vehicles acquire array data sets containing information that is not present in the sensor data from individual ones of said underwater vehicles.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.