Platform Protection Through Acoustic Signature Management

Abstract

A naval ship's acoustic signature is known after a ranging but changes the longer it is in-service away from a range. The Ship Signatures Management System (SSMS) provides an organic real-time capability to predict their own signature and enough information to mitigate signature issues. SSMS provides the Commanding Officer with a tool to determine the ship's acoustic signature in order to evaluate the impact of his/her proposed actions on the ship's counter-detection range and sensor performance. In this manner, the ship's protection is enhanced through insightful and timely signature management. DRDC has upgraded the SSMS hardware to state-of-the-art components to increase the number of sensors, the fidelity of the logged data, the dynamic range, and the processing power. This paper discusses some of the advanced SSMS features developed like tonal detection and tracking, tonal association, and the diagnostics used to determine the cause of features in the acoustic signature.