Makai Awarded Small Business Grant for Deep-Drifting Sonobuoys

Makai Ocean Engineering, Inc. has been awarded a competitive Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant focused on developing a new deep-drifting sonobuoy. Sonobuoys consist of a surface float connected by a tether to a hydrophone array that is used to listen for submarines in the ocean. Sonobuoys with hydrophones that have a short/shallow tether have a limited listening range. The Navy wishes to develop sonobuoys that use longer tethers that extend 3 miles deep in order to increase the search coverage and detect targets located farther away. The desired operational life is 30+ days.

Makai competed for and won the Navy SBIR Phase 1 grant [Topic number: N142-117] to analyze the sonobuoy survivability under extreme ocean conditions, analyze dispersion of buoys due to ocean currents, identify suitable tether components, and perform parametric analyses of the new sonobuoy system. The ultimate goal of the project is to identify a configuration for a survivable, deep, drifting, persistent sonobuoy system that fits in the existing A-size form factor. Work on Phase 1 will be completed in mid-2015, when the project will be reviewed for a potential Phase 1 Option and/or a Phase 2 continuation of the project.

Visit www.makai.com for more.

For more information, please contact:

Duke Hartman Vice President of Business Development

Makai Ocean Engineering, Inc.

+1 (808) 259-8871

Duke.Hartman@makai.com www.makai.com