S A LT Subsea Asset Location Technologies Ltd
The Company Subsea Asset Location Technologies (SALT)Ltd is a ‘spin out’ company from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) the research agency of the UK MoD. The company was formed in February 2008 to exploit the commercial demand for the passive acoustic sonar reflector technology developed by Dstl. The SonarBell is commercially available and allows the user to mark underwater equipment to ease relocation. It can be designed to operate with most sonar systems and has a unique calibration and frequency response. SALT Ltd is a subsidiary of Ploughshare Innovations Ltd (www.ploughshareinnovations.com) the Dstl technology transfer company.
The Product Having spent many years contributing to military requirements to reduce underwater sonar signatures, the scientists at Dstl turned their knowledge of this area on its head to develop a passive device that was “as loud as possible” when exposed to an incoming signal.
Schematic operation of device Inner solid core Elastic waves
The resulting Intellectual Property led to the development of the SonarBell reflector. In simple terms, the device acts as a lens focusing, and then reflecting back, the highest possible sound signature. In many ways it acts in a similar fashion to a cat’s eye reflecting back the light from a car headlight only using sound.
Outer shell
Transmission window 2
Transmission window 1
Incident and reflect field
Transmission window 2
Although “solid state” with no moving parts or power requirements the device is compatible with existing commercial sonar sets and the first product range is already suitable for many applications.
www.cesalt.co.uk Chris@RoperResources.com
805-798-0277
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