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| Science & Technology |
| Hunting Submarines In Georgia |
| 2007-02-01 |
| American researchers at Georgia Tech, investigating how fish hear underwater, have developed a sensor that can detect the sound objects make while moving through the water, and what direction it's coming from. This will enable submarines to "hear" other submarines, or surface ships, moving. Fish use this acute sense of sound to detect prey, or predators. Submarines will use this ability in the same way, and for the same purpose. The new motion sensor is passive. It just listens, and does not give off any signals. The sensor has already been tested in a large indoor pool (25 by 34 feet, and 25 feet long). Next comes testing in the open sea, and tweaking the sensor, and its software, to the point where it can be deployed on subs, ships and buoys (dropped from helicopters and aircraft.) This will take a few years, at least. If the design of the new sensor, and its software, survive all the testing, and can be kept secret, the new technology will give American subs and ships a powerful edge in ASW (Anti-Submarine Warfare) for a decade or more (by which time most maritime nations will have figured out the technology and matched it.) |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #4 Jackal, my thoughts exactly...just another BS science "discovery" not! |
| Posted by: RD 2007-02-01 22:37 |
| #3 Um, isn't passive sonar (aka hydrophones) about a 100-year old technology? I'm sure they have better signal processing, that's all. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2007-02-01 20:59 |
| #2 The USN is going for computer/info-based Underwater Dominance, including subs wid GMD- SPAWAR, anti-EM capability. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-02-01 19:23 |
| #1 In that our Los Angeles class submarines are rapidly becoming obsolete, I hope that when their time comes we retain one or more as "noisy", de-milled research vessels. Such a boat, refitted for scientific purposes could do for underwater research what the Hubble telescope did for astronomy. Alternatively, a different boat could perform an essential international task--either policing up or entombing hard radioactive or chemical contaminants that have been dumped at sea, but now threaten the fishing industry and coastlines. In either case, it would be an incredible bargain assuming their typical annual operating cost of just $25 million. That is very little money to either map undersea high grade mineral deposits worth potentially tens of trillions of dollars, or cleaning up chemical and radioactive waste that threatens entire nations fishing industries. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-02-01 19:01 |