HII’s New Medium Class UUV sports Kraken SAS

Kraken Robotics said its AquaPix Miniature Synthetic Aperture Sonar (MINSAS) System has been selected as the standard payload offering on HII’s new REMUS 620 Medium Class UUV. 

HII selected the Kraken Aquapix MINSAS-60 and MINSAS-120 as the standard imagery sonar options due to the Kraken’s combination of performance and versatility to suit a wide range of customer needs at a commercially competitive price, said Duane Fotheringham, President of Mission Technologies’ Unmanned Systems business, HII, in an interview with Marine Technology Reporter for it December 2022 edition. “This sensor provides high resolution interferometric Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) and Bathymetry imagery along with optional real time data processing and Ultra High Definition (UHD) resolution.”

HII REMUS 620 with Kraken MINSAS 60 Payload. Image courtesy Kraken Robotics/HII

Higher resolution imagery directly correlates to the reduction of false positives by both human operators and Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) software, which through advanced capabilities provided by the collaboration of the REMUS 620 and MINSAS Synthetic Aperture Sonar reduces the number of contacts required to be verified. The result is the potential for a significantly reduced MCM timeline.  Kraken’s SAS products have been integrated to HII Unmanned Systems range of small, medium and large AUVs, offering many opportunities to increase the Mine Hunting and MCM Capabilities of many NATO nations.

The unique system design of the MINSAS makes it an ideal match for the REMUS 620's modular payload and battery architecture as it can provide both 60 cm and 120 cm array offerings based on the customer's requirements, making room for additional sensor or battery payloads as needed. Kraken's MINSAS provides out-of-the-box high-resolution, real-time onboard beamforming which supports embedded ATR, enabling smart autonomy features such as dynamic mission re-tasking based on contacts identified.

Figure 2: Kraken MOSAIC taken from HII REMUS with MINSAS 60 (Red arrow indicates location of Fig. 3). Image courtesy Kraken Robotics