Page 26: of Marine Technology Magazine (July 2006)

FarSounder, Inc. is a Providence, RI, based technology company incorporated in 2001. FarSounder's underwater acoustic technology provides mariners the ability to "see- ahead," underwater, in 3D, with simultaneous range, bearing and depth information.

The technology is based on research begun at the

University of Rhode Island's Department of Ocean

Engineering and Ocean Technology Center with assis- tance from the Naval Undersea Warfare Center. Over the last six years, FarSounder engineers have been developing a range of navigational sonar systems. FarSounder's tech- nology now makes it possible to image rocks, the sea floor, whales and other obstacles underwater similar to the way that radar detects obstacles above water.

The company introduced the FS-3, its first commercial- ized product, in 2004. Its early customers included

Superyachts and small cruise ships. Now that its reputa- tion has spread, sales of the navigation and obstacle avoid- ance sonars are global and systems have been installed in diverse places such as Singapore, Germany, Australia,

Turkey and Vancouver.

According to Cheryl

Zimmerman, FarSounder's president, the company received a Phase 2 Small Business

Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the Department of

Homeland Security to develop a low cost underwater threat detection system. FarSounder will design, build and operate a 3-D forward seeking sonar device that will locate divers and

FarSounder technology helps to

Look Out Below by Maggie L. Merrill

FarSounder FS-3 sonar system being demonstrated for Phase 1 of and SBIR Proof of

Demonstration for the

Department of Homeland

Security at Pier I at the Port of

Quonset, Rhode Island in

November 2005. (Photo Credit: Evan Lapisky) 26 MTR July 2006

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