Wavefront Systems has unveiled new 1500 m and 3000 m variants of its Solstice MAS Multi-Aperture Sonar, adding to the existing 300 m and 600 m depth-rated models. These additions extend use cases to a wider range of subsurface platforms.
Solstice combines the high performance of Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) with the reliability and robustness of conventional Side-Scan Sonar (SSS) to deliver consistent high-resolution imagery.
Consuming less than 20 W of power and offering a wide 200 m swath with high-speed data acquisition at up to 6 knots and co-registered bathymetry, Solstice is well suited to low-logistic AUVs, where power efficiency is critical to mission endurance.
Common applications for Solstice include mine countermeasure (MCM) operations, route survey, habitat monitoring, archaeological survey, and fluid or gaseous leak detection. Onboard processing supports near real-time detection algorithms such as automatic leak detection and mine-like object identification.
Paul Badger, Managing Director at Wavefront Systems, added, “This is an exciting development allowing even more customers to experience the benefits of Multi-Aperture Sonar. When combined with options for delivery as a pre-configured AUV Payload Module we see Solstice as the natural choice for the latest generation of small, agile AUV platforms in both the defence and commercial sectors.”
