The Navy is developing the Seaweb concept for ocean surveillance and other undersea warfare missions. Seaweb is a wireless network for network-centric operations in the undersea battlespace. Telesonar modem technology enables deployable autonomous distributed systems (known as DADS) and other undersea systems.
The susceptibility of cables to boat anchors and commercial trawling precludes the use of a wired network. Vulnerability of surface buoys to weather, rough seas, and pilfering discourages reliance on radio telemetry from individual sensor nodes to shore or to space satellites. Such a distributed network involves multiple sensor nodes, relay nodes, and gateway nodes, all of which include a Benthos modem.
Benthos telesonar modems provide all aspects of underwater communications required by Seaweb, including connectivity with undersea sensors and underwater vehicles. Data transmission ranging from command and control, to optical and sonar imagery, is provided, along with the ability to relay the data across any number of nodes within a large, distributed network.
Seamless connectivity is accomplished through gateway buoys that are integrated acoustic and radio modems, providing line-of-sight and/or satellite links to remote operators directly or via the internet. Benthos has partnered with the U.S. Navy in the development of these modems for the last eight years and anticipates a continuing partnership in the development of underwater wireless communications technology.