Client:
Chesapeake Sciences Corp., Millersville, MD
Chesapeake Sciences Corporation (CSC) is a privately held Maryland Company chartered in July 1991 to design and manufacture electronic data acquisition systems for use in, Anti-Submarine Warfare, geophysical exploration, arms control verification, acoustic tracking applications, and seismic event detection. Chesapeake is the United States Navy’s primary supplier of towed sonar telemetry systems.

Task:
Design and prototype a steerable sonar senor array capable of detecting acoustic threats while at the tail end of a towed sonar system.
Under the direction of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC), Newport, RI, a high frequency spatial array was developed for trial at the end of a conventional towed line passive sonar. Technology was transferred from the machine tool industry in the form of a stereo lithographic supporting structure for the array’s individual sensors. This innovation allowed for the required acoustic transparency while at the same time achieving the precise mechanical positioning of sensors required for the threat detection. The prototype achieved approximately 90% of the required performance.

The Role of Main Associates:
Design and develop the prototype’s wet-end hardware
Main Associates derived the mechanical and acoustical requirements from CSC’s system requirements. We developed the design concept including the fabrication of the array structure from an epoxy resin built as one contiguous piece via stereo lithography. We performed the detailed design of the prototype. We conducted a formal design review with NUWC and CSC. We selected a fabricator for the prototype and supervised the fabrication & testing. This included the development of fabrication and test plans. We also assisted in the integration of CSC’s telemetry with the array.