The legacy of the five octave research array and its impact on future towed array development

Abstract

The five octave research array (FORA) was developed and implemented in support of the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Ocean Acoustics program’s experimental efforts. Dr. John R. Preston spearheaded planning, development, and experimental operations of this well-known acquisition system. Planning and development of the system took place between 1997 and 2002, while engineering assessment and array enhancements continued through 2004. From initial delivery to the Penn State Applied Research Laboratory to the present, the FORA made possible over 20 very successful sea trials. These trials were primarily in the interest of oceanographic and underwater acoustics, as well as signal processing research. The data collected, with John at the helm, fostered hundreds (if not thousands) of scholarly works, while John’s collaborative nature allowed an enormous number of researchers and students to benefit from the data and experience in at-sea experimentation. One of John’s final contributions was to renew planning and discussions for a replacement research array to continue in place of the aging FORA, which was becoming less dependable and increasingly expensive to maintain. This talk will discuss the development and history of the FORA, its involvement in a selection of collaborative ONR trials, and the FORA replacement acquisition system.