FarSounder Awarded Manufacturing Innovation Voucher to Advance AI‑Based Sonar Capabilities

FarSounder, a leader in 3D Forward Looking Sonar technology, has been awarded a Manufacturing Innovation Voucher by the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation. The award will support advanced research and development focused on integrating automatic target recognition into FarSounder’s end‑user sonar software.

Under the Innovation Voucher program, FarSounder will build on an existing proof‑of‑concept to bring machine‑learning target recognition into a fully integrated software prototype. This work will introduce automated classification of key sonar targets, focusing on seafloor features, wake‑related bubbles, engine noise interference, and in‑water objects such as whales, ice, rocks, and coral. The underlying framework is designed to expand over time, enabling additional target classes as new data becomes available

FarSounder’s work leverages more than two decades of sonar expertise and a proprietary data set of over 80 terabytes of real‑world sonar recordings collected globally. Using this data, FarSounder has already demonstrated a convolutional neural network (CNN) capable of processing raw sonar data in real time with performance comparable to existing classical algorithms. This foundation offers significantly greater flexibility to expand object recognition capabilities through additional training.

The research supported by this award will benefit FarSounder’s existing customer base through future software updates, while also enabling new integrations across emerging maritime applications. These include pilot‑assist systems for high‑speed passenger vessels, autonomous and minimally manned platforms, advanced collision‑avoidance systems, and enhancing autonomy for USV platforms.