2025_proceedings: Implementing acoustic capabilities of free-floating profiling floats

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  • Session: 25. Unmanned vehicles for underwater acoustic surveillance and monitoring
    Organised by: Alain Maguer
  • Lecture: Implementing acoustic capabilities of free-floating profiling floats
    Paper ID: 2199
    Author(s): Giacomo Giorli, Walter Zimmer, Pierre-Marie Poulain
    Presenter: Giacomo Giorli
    Abstract: Direct measurements of the water column ocean conditions are a cornerstone for the characterization of marine environments both for civilian and military applications. The industry has developed a suite of profiling floats that are now commonly used for this purpose. Floats have the advantage of being programmable and may be operated for extended periods of time. In their standard configuration they include a CTD sensor; GPS positioning and an Iridium short burst data (SBD) satellite transmission device. Here, we present the development of a Provor float carrying a 6-element volumetric acoustical array. The scope was to expand the floats capacity to acquire measurements of ambient noise, as well as detecting and tracking sound sources. Tests were performed in the Arctic Ocean in controlled acoustic environments including reference sound sources. Preliminary analyses of the data reveal that after the removal/filtering of self-noise the acoustic sensors on the drifting instruments can adequately detect the reference signals and monitor the local ambient noise.
  • Corresponding author: Dr Giacomo Giorli
    Affiliation: NATO STO CMRE
    Country: Italy

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