Page 17: of Marine Technology Magazine (May 2008)
Undersea Defense Edition
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ISE's Aurora Active Towfish was success- fully towed for the first time from existing route survey equipment belonging to the
Canadian Navy aboard a Maritime Coastal
Defense Vessel (MCDV) off the coast of
Vancouver Island. Built in the 90's for coastal defense, the Canadian Navy's
MCDVs were equipped with Route Survey
System (RSS) payloads consisting of a high performance multibeam sonar built into a variable depth actively controlled towfish, and a shipboard handling system. However, over the years, the operation of the variable depth active towfish has become problemat- ic. As the Navy's successful Interim Remote
Minehunting and Disposal System (IRMDS) currently incorporates ISE's
Aurora variable depth towfish, there was an opportunity to integrate the Aurora towfish with the existing RSS handling device and demonstrate the resulting towing perform- ance from an MCDV. The integration of
Aurora with the RSS handling system was straightforward, requiring minimal modifi- cations to the towfish docking mechanism, as shown above.
This towing trial is part of the Route
Survey System Life Extension (RSSLE) pro- ject's definition phase. During the three days of towing, over 20 hours of towing was completed in conditions including 25 to 30 knot winds and sea states up to 4. The
Aurora towfish provided very stable per- formance during unfamiliar handling maneuvers, launch and recovery, and opera- tions with both faired and un-faired cabling at a variety of cable scopes, speeds, and depths.
Canadian Navy Trials Active Towfish
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