A towbody and surface vessel support infrastructure to detect and classify hazards on the seafloor

Our goal is to look into the sediment. Many sonar systems can show you what's lying on the bottom. The MuST system images buried targets and tells us something about their properties, too, which is novel.

Munitions, left behind from past military training and weapons testing activities, litter shallow water environments at hundreds of sites encompassing millions of acres. The DoD is mandated to remediate these hazards and return the lands to the citizens of the U.S.

APL-UW physicists, through a series of laboratory and field experiments, have come to understand target acoustic scattering, the effects of the seabed, how to detect and classify buried targets, and how to make classification decisions amid acoustic clutter. Mechanical and ocean engineers designed and built a modular system of subsea sensing and topside data acquisition and processing technologies. Signal processing optimization now enables onboard real-time visualization of buried UXOs, as well as buried cables, archeological artifacts, and other structures.

The MacArtney FOCUS 3 towbody and EdgeTech eBOSS sonar deployed from a support vessel are a versatile and cost-effective combination of platforms to test UXO remediation strategies. During recent surveys at field test sites seeded with targets and clutter unknown to the team, MuST demonstrated correct detection and classification of UXOs.

Applied research experience with MuST

Here, aboard the R/V Robertson, the students can see clearly the multidisciplinary team effort it takes to understand a problem, develop a system, and refine it for practical application in the field.

A virtual presentation by K. Williams

All team members have performed at the highest level to achieve results to date: demonstrating MuST operation at a research level, addressing navigation challenges, and advancing detection and classification signal processing.