Advanced technologies for undersea object location

The recent search for a missing airliner in the Southern Indian Ocean has highlighted the gap between current standard “black box” pingers and the potential requirements of a deep ocean search. When the general location of an object, in this case a crashed airliner, is known basic pingers are adequate. But even when the actual entry point into the water is precisely known there are operational benefits to be achieved by more advanced technologies. In the terrestrial realm tools such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS), WiFi, Bluetooth and radio frequency identification (RFID) have made tracking and meta data gathering of all manner of objects ubiquitous. This has created many opportunities for new business and improved services. Such technologies are not available in the undersea domain. However, advanced acoustic technologies such as transponders, ultrashort baseline positioning, long baseline positioning and digital acoustic telemetry are commonly employed for undersea operations. This paper will: 1) Review the concept of operations of the search for MH370 in the Indian Ocean to analyze the theoretical performance of standard aviation emergency pingers. 2) Review currently employed acoustic technologies that could support the location of objects undersea. 3) Consider the value of unconventional observation systems in the search for lost objects marked with advanced locators. This paper draws upon practical field experience with all of the current technologies described. It will also benefit from the technology insights of authors familiar with both legacy undersea locator technology and near-future undersea acoustic capabilities.