What a difference a ‘t’ makes! We’re used to bandying the word simulation around, for obvious reasons in this community. Less frequent is use of the word stimulation – but the PROTEUS Passive Sonar Simulator (PSS) from Kongsberg Defence Systems (exhibiting on booth 1000 at I/ITSEC 2014 in Orlando this week) makes the difference between the two crystal clear.
Conventional sonar training solutions make heavy use of simulation in every aspect of the training environment: displays, human machine interface (HMI), analysis software and computer generated audio and target signatures. In the PROTEUS PSS, however, only the two latter items are computer generated and are then used to stimulate the ‘live’ sonar systems on board the submarine or surface vessel.
Essentially, the PSS stimulates the output from the actual sonar’s hydrophones. This output can then be modified by real system generated noise and the resulting audio heard by the sonar operator. This significantly increases the realism of the aural environment for the trainee, as he (or she) uses the actual displays, HMI analysis software tools and audio output to track and classify target signatures in exactly the same fashion as they will later do when tracking ‘live’ targets at sea.
More representative of real world target detection, identification, localisation and tracking, the PSS thus lends itself to highly effective training.
Developed as part of the Norwegian Navy’s Ula-class submarine upgrade programme and made available for training some three years ago, the PROTEUS PSS is now available for use by other navies and can be customised to provide a customer specific training solution. HLA compliant, inegratable with third party trainers using an HLA or DFIS interface, PROTEUS PSS can be federated with any other Kongsberg PROTEUS or POLARIS training system. The secret, according to Kongsberg Defence Systems' Morten Kolve, lies in “tying the sound to the visuals and in isolating individual noises then aggregating them where required.”
To familiarise trainees with individual noises on a vessel, for example, the PSS can isolate specific sounds coming from the propulsion system, engine space machinery, weapons mounts or general ambient level noises. This leaves the trainee free to hear, analyse and remember the sound of a sonar contact – learning to discriminate between biologicals, bottom returns or legitimate targets – isolated from the ambient sound he would normally experience. Sound components can then be added back in incrementally to the point at which a ‘live’ sound picture is presented to the trainee. This helps enormously in providing effective and sustainable training in the difficult role of fonar operations – though one has to question just how motivating it might be for the operator to also hear – unexpectedly – the sound of an active sonar from a surface vessel or submarine ‘pinging’ him!