N.L.-based sonar developer gets NRC-IRAP funding
by Canadian Manufacturing.com Staff
The funding will be used to develop a real-time, ultra-high resolution sonar
ST. JOHN’S, N.L.—Kraken Sonar Systems Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) developer Kraken Sonar Inc., has received $450,000 from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP).
The funding comes in the form of “a non-refundable financial contribution,” and will be used to develop a real-time, ultra-high resolution seabed mapping system based on Kraken’s Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Sonar (INSAS) technology.
INSAS is a real-time SAS signal processing algorithms coupled with an onboard version of advanced 3D seabed visualization software that is optimized for unmanned maritime vessels. The first system offering is expected to be released at the end of 2015 or in early 2016, and is hoped to tackle current range and resolution limitations found in conventional sonar technology.
INSAS uses sophisticated signal processing techniques to compare the multiple observations of the same area of seafloor to calculate its depth. Kraken says the image resolution of the seabed is significantly increased—often by an order of magnitude—compared to conventional sonar technology.
In addition to being used for military applications such as naval mine countermeasures, INSAS is a multi-market technology with great potential for offshore oil and gas surveying, hydrographic surveys, underwater archaeology, benthic habitat mapping and deep sea mining.
