For over twenty years, our commercial tools have been used by governments world-wide to assist in collection and analysis of sonar and camera data in support of projects of national interest.

Whether as a prime contractor or as a team member, Triton can provide solutions. These solutions can be from our COTS product line or could be supplied as COTS modifications through directed R&D projects.

With continued technological advances in acoustic sensors and underwater robotics, combined with reductions in manpower, it is imperative that data processing techniques be optimized and data presentation be intuitive. These two objectives continue to be a driving force in our development efforts.

Among the wide range of operations encompassing underwater defense, Triton has been active in the following:

• Search and Survey
• Mission Planning / Mission Monitoring
• Perimeter Security: Vessels, Harbors and Inland Waterways
• Field Operations

Search and Survey

Whether searching for a specific object or characterizing a known seabed region, Triton has a broad range of tools to ensure your mission is a success. Survey planning tools (e.g.,DelphNav™Survey Planner) allow an operator to select a region and construct survey routes, thereby increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of an object search survey. Survey acquisition tools (e.g., Isis® Sonar™ and Isis® SS-Logger™) ensure raw data are logged properly. Survey management tools (e.g., TargetPro™ and TritonMap™) monitor the results of a mission and include automated feature extraction, contact classification and location, and report generation.

Triton offers powerful tools for processing and visualizing survey data in real-time. All survey data (e.g., sidescan sonar, bathymetric, sub-bottom profiler, or others) may be merged into a single viewing environment. This viewing environment can extend into three-dimensional space, thereby providing an excellent tool for identifying a target lying on the seabed. Triton also offers tools for the correction and direct comparison of different vintages of data, extending the analysis of seabed changes into the time domain.

Seafloor Search

Triton has a long history in the field of search surveys. A seafloor search is the process of detecting and recognizing a seabed anomaly using sonar for the purpose of identification, disposal, or retrieval. Detection is a function of sonar design, acoustical physics, and image enhancement while recognition is highly dependent upon the eye-brain interface and operator experience. Typically the objects for which the search is being conducted are either partially or completely buried, or, moored in shallow or deep configurations. In the past, small objects were detected by sidescan sonar imagery and in particular the size and shape of the acoustic shadow, which is a derivation of the acoustic reflection, fish altitude, and grazing angle at which the acoustic signal strikes the object. More modern systems are including other types of information (e.g., swath bathymetry, magnetometers). Triton offers all the tools required to log, process, and analyze the different data sets associated with a search survey. Applications for marine search include: Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Q-Route Survey, Site Clearance, Search and Recovery of Downed Aircraft and Sunken Shipwrecks.

Mine Countermeasures

The search and disposal of underwater mines requires constant effort on the part of militaries worldwide. Shipping channels must be kept open and free from mines. Over the past decade, the Triton Isis® Sonar™ data acquisition and image processing system combined with TargetPro™ has played a critical role in the identification of underwater mines worldwide. Triton Products have been used internationally, including the Persian Gulf, the Baltic, the coastal regions of Australia, and in the harbors of New Zealand.

Aircraft Search and Recovery

Triton Products and personnel have aided in the search and recovery of downed commercial and military aircraft worldwide. Accurate target capture and geo-location of objects identified across a seabed is achievable through TargetPro™ and our real-time mosaicking capabilities ensure that 100% coverage of the seabed is attained. Triton systems played a prominent role in the attempt to find the Space Shuttle Columbia blackbox and consistently remain the acquisition and analysis system of choice whenever an air disaster occurs. Some of the most publicized include: The 1998 Swissair MD-11 (Atlantic), the 1996 TWA Flight #800 (Atlantic), the United Airlines cargo door (mid-Pacific), Air India (mid-Atlantic), Korean Airlines (West Pacific) and South African Airlines (West Indian Ocean).

Search and Recovery of Shipwrecks

The unique capability of Triton's Isis® Sonar™ application to simultaneously log and co-register information from multiple sensors and other Triton applications (e.g., BathyPro™, Mosaic, TritonMap™) to process, fuse, and display the results makes the product line ideally suited for shipwreck surveys. Mosaicked sidescan imagery can be draped over bathymetry and in turn overlain on a TIN model of magnetometer data. Some of the world's most highly publicized shipwrecks have been found with Triton Products and technology. They include:The USS Central America (West Atlantic), The Benedict Arnold Gun Boat (Lake Champlain), John Barry (East Indian Ocean) and The Lacona (Mediterranean).

Mission Planning

A key ingredient to any successful mission is the ability to plan and manage the search operation and to be able to rapidly process, analyze and deliver relevant products to operators. As with any survey operation, organization and planning are essential in order to carry out an effective and time-efficient survey. Triton software products can help you achieve optimal organization and planning levels.

Detection and proper classification of seafloor objects is difficult in a cluttered and/or noisy environment. Triton has learned, through years of experience, that even the best-designed seafloor imaging systems can produce data that require heavy processing to reveal important features. Unusual noise sources, degraded sensors, navigation errors and difficult seafloor conditions can all contribute to sonar records that require significant processing before becoming useful. Such processing tools are available with Triton’s Isis® Sonar™ and BathyPro™software. Identification of errors in multibeam bathymetry data is further enhanced with Triton’s survey monitor application.

Perimeter Security: Vessels, Harbors and Inland Waterways

Given the length and diversity of perimeters to be secured, the task of monitoring is daunting. High resolution, contiguous baseline perimeter data must be collected and then continuously monitored to enable detection of potential threats.

Triton offers the tools to both acquire the baseline data across an area and to analyze/monitor the area continuously over time or via subsequent surveys. Our Isis® Sonar™ product acquires the necessary sidescan sonar and bathymetry data to establish baseline and to monitor variations in real time. Isis® Sonar™ is used to create mosaics from the sidescan imagery; our BathyPro™ product suite then creates a DTM from the bathymetry data. All information related to an area is instantly viewable and analyzed in TritonMap™. Sophisticated TritonMap™ functionality allows direct comparisons to be made between data sets acquired from different surveys; TiePoint™ is then used to automatically co-register data sets based on known reference points and statistically-derived system offsets.

Another security technique is time-continuous monitoring of an entry point (e.g., the mouth of a harbor). In this case, acoustic sensors are oriented to look for objects in the water column. The data volume associated with such systems is much greater than that associated with standard multibeam systems, and hence data logging is typically even triggered (e.g., when an object is detected in the water column). Viewing of detected objects, along with other entry way features, is optimized in TritonMap™.

Field Operations

Field operations often require rapid response by highly flexible and capable operators. The equipment they use must possess these same characteristics. The underwater ops arena is no exception.

Triton has supplied, for over 20 years, hardware and software for field customers. Our experienced personnel routinely devise innovative and cost-effective solutions for a diverse and broad range of missions.

Triton offers a variety of portable, ruggedized acquisition systems for field operations. If our existing models do not meet your needs, our engineering staff is capable of providing an alternative solution. This willingness to tailor our products to meet your needs holds true for our software product line.

For more information on our capabilities contact us at: sales@tritonimaginginc.com

back to top