Jane Edwards
Five research teams will study the behavior of marine organisms to develop sensors designed to detect and track manned underwater vehicles and drones in strategic waters under a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program.
DARPA introduced in February 2018 the Persistent Aquatic Living Sensors program in an effort to integrate biology into new platforms meant to monitor adversaries’ movements in underwater environments, the agency said Friday.
A Northrop Grumman-led team under principal investigator Robert Siegel will study snapping shrimps’ acoustics and bioluminescent organisms’ optical activity, while a group under principal investigator Alison Laferriere and led by Raytheon's BBN Technologies subsidiary will analyze the potential of snapping shrimp for long-range detection and monitoring of underwater vehicles.
DARPA will also fund teams led by Naval Research Laboratory, Florida Atlantic University and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.
The agency will offer financial aid to the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Division Newport to help build a hydrophone array-based seafloor system designed to detect ambient sound in reef environments.
