Kraken Robotics has completed demonstrations for its new autonomous launch and recovery system (ALARS) for KATFISH towed synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) for more than 40 naval customers.
The company performed demonstrations in Nova Scotia’s Halifax Harbour.
The new ALARS was built to fit a 20-foot International Organization for Standardization (ISO) container footprint to increase interoperability with different vessels, allowing for rapid mobilization and demobilization on multi-role platforms.
The system enables autonomous launch and recovery of KATFISH up to Sea State 5.
During the demonstrations, participants were able to view the KATFISH SAS data live-streaming onboard the vessel, detecting, classifying, and identifying various seafloor contacts in real-time, including high-resolution imagery of the Governor Cornwallis shipwreck.
High-resolution SAS data and command and control information were also streamed wirelessly back to shore and displayed to the attendees of Canadian Naval Mine Countermeasures Symposium taking place at HMCS Scotian in Halifax, Nova Scotia at that time.
“This was a great opportunity to both test our new ALARS and demonstrate KATFISH for key naval clients. The ocean is an unforgiving environment, and the highest risk to technology and personnel is during launch and recovery. Demo participants were able to witness our technology in action, observing both the advanced autonomy of the ALARS as well as the high-resolution real-time SAS data from KATFISH while aboard the vessel,” said Greg Reid, President and CEO of Kraken Robotics. “
“The ability to stream live, high-resolution seafloor data to analysts and mine warfare officers in real-time, from both manned and unmanned platforms, is a critical enabler for modern navies. Kraken was excited to be able to provide a live demo simultaneously in-person and for a remote audience, showing how remote operation and intelligent autonomy helps get humans out of the minefield.
“These capabilities are standard with the KATFISH system and are being continuously improved as our NATO customers deploy them in operations every day. We look forward to getting this new ALARS out into the field with our customers,” added David Shea, Executive Vice President and CTO of Kraken.
Kraken’s new ALARS will be delivered to an Asia-Pacific naval customer by the end of 2024.