THROUGH WATER ACOUSTIC COMMUNICATIONS

Current concept of operations for the United States Navy requires that underwater assets such as submarines, both manned and unmanned vehicles, and sensors to become a “node” in the global information grid.  Battle group, in-theater and training commanders must have reliable two-way communications to provide situational awareness as well as tactical and organizational information transfer.

L-3 MariPro and L-3 Nautronix Ltd. in Fremantle, Australia have joined forces to provide through water communications systems for US and allied Navies around the world.  The systems must be reliable, long range, resistant to multi-path interference, Doppler tolerant, operate at speed and depth, possess low spectral density, and operate near real time.
Originally developed for the Royal Australian Navy; HAIL (HydroAcoustic Information Link) meets these requirements and is now being used by the U.S. Navy.  This capability is planned to be installed on existing and new submarines via the Acoustic Rapid COTS Insertion (ARCI) process.  HAIL uses a proprietary signaling scheme based on digital spread spectrum signaling technology to provide a text messaging capability that achieves data rates of 100 bps at ranges of greater than 33 kilometers and Doppler tolerance of greater then 28 knots.  Walk aboard implementations of HAIL also support multinational submarine training exercises.

The HAIL hydroacoustic signaling technology, system architecture and interfaces have been specifically designed to enable rapid solution development and insertion into a range of integrated undersea applications.  L-3 MariPro was contracted to adapt the proven HAIL technology to receive and send text messaging for manned vehicles and command and control information to other unmanned undersea vehicles, platforms or sensors.

If you are in need of additional information on HAIL, Command and Control Acoustic Modem or an integrated undersea application, please contact us.