Danish Navy to deploy Solstice side-scan sonar for anti-mine operations

Maritime security company Sonardyne International has delivered imaging sonar technology to Danish Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organisation (DALO), to support the navy’s mine counter measure activities.

The technology will be incorporated into Saab Seaeye’s Double Eagle Sarov for tracking and classifying mine-like objects on the seabed.

Sarov enables autonomous mine reconnaissance missions over vast areas to be conducted.

The sonar is expected to play an integral role in offering protection to the Danish navy’s disposition of domestic and international operations as part of Nato.

The solstice sonar enables search and classification of mines on a variety of underwater platforms with integrated swath bathymetry that is compatible with small, medium and large autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV).

Sonardyne business development manager Ross Gooding said: "During evaluation trials led by Saab, we were able to demonstrate how its proprietary technologies are able to increase the operational envelope of underwater vehicles by providing wide swath coverage, long endurance and very high resolution imagery."

The high resolution images generated by the technology employ full dynamic focus and multi-ping integration technique. The system is said to work best when deployed between seven and ten metres above the sea bed.

The high resolution images and bathymetry reduce the consumption of time and post-mission data analysis during an operation.
Multi-path movement of the vehicle does not distort the image.

The low power system consumes 18 watts enabling a longer duration of operation.

Sonardyne delivered its sentinel intruder detection sonar systems to an undisclosed Asian customer in March 2014.

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Image: An underwater vehicle fitted with Solstice side-scan sonar. Photo: courtesy of Sonardyne.