MTR100: Kraken

Kraken Sonar Systems Inc. is a world leader in advanced sonar and sensor technology. Kraken’s AquaPix has set a new standard for high-speed, high-resolution underwater imaging. The system provides both high resolution seabed imagery and 3D bathymetry with a spatial resolution of 3 cm and swath widths of 600 meters.

Kraken Sonar Inc. is a marine technology company engaged in the design, development and marketing of advanced sonar and acoustic velocity sensors for Unmanned Underwater Vehicles used in military and commercial applications. Over the last two years, the company has earned a reputation as world leaders in Synthetic Aperture Sonar, a revolutionary underwater imaging technology that dramatically improves seabed surveys by providing ultra-high resolution imagery at superior coverage rates. Kraken’s systems offer comparable performance to existing high end military systems at less than 20 percent of the cost.

Expanding on the successful Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) product line, Kraken is introducing a new underwater system. The Kraken Active Towfish (or KATFISH) is a complete system solution for collecting and viewing SAS seafloor data in real-time. SAS uses sophisticated signal processing techniques to compare multiple observations of the same area of seafloor. The resulting image resolution is significantly increased, often by an order of magnitude, when compared with conventional sidescan sonar. The KATFISH combines the Kraken Miniature Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Sonar (MINSAS) with an actively controlled towed platform. As a towed system, SAS images can be viewed as they are processed in real-time making it ideal for search and survey operations where the earliest possible prosecution of seabed targets is required. 

The active control system onboard ensures not only that the system is able to meet the stability requirements of the SAS, but also adds a higher level of autonomy to the system with features such as terrain following and obstacle avoidance. The KATFISH is a portable, complete system package and can easily be deployed on any surface vessel, including USVs. The higher level of autonomy simplifies operations while the remote operation capability allows the system to be controlled through a radio link to a remote station.