Solstice MAS – Multi Aperture Side-Scan Sonar

Solstice MAS – Dependable high quality imagery.

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Solstice MAS is a unique Multi-Aperture Sonar designed to provide world-class imagery by blending the high performance of Synthetic Aperture Sonar with the reliability and robustness of conventional side-scan.

Capture every feature and every detail in ultra-high resolution. Solstice multi-aperture side-scan sonar significantly increases the operational envelope of your underwater vehicle by providing wide swath coverage, at high resolution – all while consuming very low power.

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Solstice at a glance

Mission ready; designed to support search, classify and map (SCM) and hydrographic operations
Small and compact arrays; optimised for low-logistic AUVs and towed bodies
Survey more ground in a single pass; 200 m-wide swath ensures high coverage rates

Along track resolution of 0.15°; best in class delivering maximum detection rates
Co-registered side-scan imagery and bathymetry
Consumes only 18 W; power budget friendly increases your AUV’s endurance

Solstice Sonar is suitable for:

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

Site survey and characterisation

Mine Counter Measures

Remotely Operated Vehicles

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Benefits of Solstice for your survey operations

High tempo

Large swaths of 100m on each side ensure large coverage rates, increasing your site characterisation efficiency without compromising on the detail.

Pixel perfect

Class-leading imagery is provided to enable operators to make classification decisions with greater levels of confidence in less time.

AUV or towfish

Solstice MAS is the ideal solution for deployment in either an AUV or towfish for Mine Counter Measure (MCM) operations

Solstice MAS Overview

Solstice MAS is a unique Multi-Aperture Sonar designed to provide world-class imagery by blending the high performance of Synthetic Aperture Sonar with the reliability and robustness of conventional side-scan.

Multiple apertures improve the signal-to-noise ratio performance, capturing stunning imagery at longer ranges than other sonars at the same frequency. It is interferometric too, meaning you also get co-located 3D data. It’s the ideal choice for hydrographic, archaeological, search, salvage, unexploded ordnance, and mine countermeasure missions.

Each of Solstice’s 300 m-rated, 682 mm long, 2.11 kg arrays, has 32 reciever elements. This configuration ensures that your AUV or towed body is able to gather more data with higher image fidelity.

Unlike most conventional side-scan sonars which have a fixed focus, Solstice uses a unique back-projection beam-forming technique to focus at every single pixel in the image. Imagery from conventional side-scans is also often distorted due to non-linear platform motion and may have gaps in coverage due to platform roll, pitch and yaw.

Solstice on the other hand uses knowledge of the platform motion to eliminate its effects, producing undistorted imagery with 100% ground coverage.

Accurate imaging demands highly linear element alignment, which cannot easily be achieved mechanically.

Real-time array calibration is therefore used to dynamically re-calibrate each hydrophone element several times a second to compensate for any dynamical strains causing array non-linearity.

Solstice has been designed to produce high-contrast imagery, even in shallow, littoral waters, eliminating noise from multi-path reverberation, enhancing the contrast of the imagery. It employs a unique array technology which allows wide swath coverage normally associated with wide vertical beamwidth, whilst providing the shadow contrast associated with very narrow vertical beams.

The result is improved probability of detection and decreased probability of false alarms improving the efficiency of your mine counter-measures, archaeological, search and salvage missions.

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