Observations from Demonstrations of Several Commercial Diver Detection Sonar Systems

As part of its ongoing Maritime Force Protection Technology Demonstration Project, Defence R&D Canada - Atlantic has recently concluded a series of four commercial diver detection sonar demonstrations. The one-week-long demonstrations took place off the Canadian Forces Base Shearwater jetty, near the entrance to Halifax Harbour, with the participation of divers from the Canadian Forces Fleet Diving Unit Atlantic. The sonar systems were all deployed within 100 m of the jetty in 10-15 m water depth. Experience at this and similar past demonstrations has shown the importance of fusion of the sonar data with environmental data, and therefore measurements of the local acoustic propagation environment were made to aid in interpretation of sonar performance.