Underwater arms race: How robot subs will outwit next-gen sonar

Robotic submarines are poised to become a major addition to the fleets of the world's major navies and as the technology matures more attention is being paid by the likes of the European Defence Agency (EDA) to making them quieter and stealthier. Then you have the same problem that every naval submarine engineer has had since the Turtle took to sea during the American Revolution – how to make the sub stealthy enough to keep the hunter from becoming the hunted. "SPHYDA is a crucial step toward developing the capability to diagnose and predict the complex hydrodynamic mechanisms responsible for the generation and propagation of noise from underwater vehicles in real operating conditions," said Riccardo Broglia, Research Director at the Institute of Marine Engineering of the Italian National Research Council, the project manager.

Author: David Szondy

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