Information Systems Laboratories (ISL) has been awarded a Phase 2 small business innovative research contract to develop and test electric field (E-field) sensors and signal-processing algorithms for reducing the risk of collision when a submarine rises to periscope depth. ISL has already demonstrated that E-field signals are quite detectible in acoustically blind zones, such as littoral, high-traffic ambient noise and multiple thermal-layer environments, and will help prevent collisions.

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ISL will install a set of hydrodynamic E-field sensors on a submarine and conduct testing and data collection to validate the performance characteristics of these sensors in an 'at sea' environment. The data collected will be analyzed to develop signal-processing algorithms to cancel the effects of noise and improve signal-processing techniques to detect and track potential collision threats. ISL is a science and engineering innovator in the fields of advanced sensors, communications, adaptive signal processing, and nuclear systems analysis. The interval of performance for the collision-avoidance contracts is four years with a total value, including options, of more than $1 million.