Applied Acoustic Engineering of Great Yarmouth, UK has launched Nexus 2, a second generation two-way digital Ultra Short Base Line (USBL) system claimed to provide unrivalled levels of performance.
Developed with an emphasis on far greater accuracy whilst positioning over an extended operational range, it is said to provide a reliable and secure acoustic link with extremely low susceptibility to interference.
Able to track positions of up to 16 dynamic subsea targets simultaneously, the system is suitable for many deep or shallow water applications typically involving UXO surveys using magnetometers or sidescan sonars, diving operations or offshore worksites where several vehicles may be operating concurrently.
Fundamental to the system’s development, the company says, is its Sigma 2 digital acoustic coding featuring a proprietary set of bi-directional spread spectrum acoustic protocols designed by its own in-house R&D team. Protocols operate with a complementary transducer design in order to realise estimated positional accuracies of up to 0.15% slant range. For standard positioning and tracking tasks, the new system remains compatible with AAE’s earlier 1000, 1200A and 1300 beacons in addition to some of its older 900 Series of ‘tone’ products.
By David Goodfellow
