Page 46: of Marine Technology Magazine (July 2014)

 Coatings Transducer Covers  Degaussing equipment Globe has also just been awarded a second U.S. patent for its High Gravity Composite (HGC) material, Brandonite, often used in radiation shielding for sonar and radar arrays on ships and submarines. Mikel Inc. MIKEL is a technology development and services company that provides innovative, cost-effective undersea solutions for the U.S. and foreign navies. MIKEL?s products enable its cus- tomers, especially those in the Submarine Force, to solve their technology problems, and to better meet their business and mission requirements. MIKEL is committed to providing an environment that challenges its employees to use and advance their skills and knowledge to exceed customer expectations. Started in 1999 by Brian Guimond and under the leadership of Kelly Mendell, MIKEL has grown yearly, employing a di- verse and capable workforce of technicians, engineers, com- puter scientists, analysts and many support functions to its Navy customers. Expertise in undersea acoustic tracking and navigation, combat systems and performance assessment has enabled a thorough understanding of the technology gaps and the development and installation of their solutions. In each of these areas, the company strives to provide a complete solution ? ranging from an understanding of the operational context of the problem, to development of algorithms that process data, to the delivery of software and hardware systems. The Submerged Acoustic Navigation System (SANS), Ad- vanced Contact Management System (ACMS), Active Inter- cept and Ranging System (AIRS) and Standardized Metrics for Assessment, Readiness and Training (SMART) are four re- cent technologies developed by MIKEL. SANS was developed to address the problem of accurate submerged platform posi- tioning in the absence of GPS. AIRS was developed to address the problem of passive sonar target localization, in response to an SBIR award. ACMS was developed to address the problem of heavy operator workload during bearings-only sonar target tracking in response to an SBIR award. SMART addresses the quanti cation of performance. SANS - positional accuracy of several meters in real-time in a local operating region. Currently, SANS is installed on U.S. submarines with APB-11 software support or higher. AIRS - passively localizes a target in 3D emitting active acoustic energy via the use of spatially diverse sensors. The technology removes the necessity for collinearly placed hull sensors by actually exploiting their non-collinearity. MTR MTR 100 100ACMS from Mikel Inc. reduces submarine operator involvement and manual data editing processes during passive sonar target tracking. July/August 2014 46 MTRMTR #6 (34-49).indd 46MTR #6 (34-49).indd 467/30/2014 9:35:43 AM7/30/2014 9:35:43 AM