User Guide

BROADBAND SONAR

The Broadband Sonar Station displays input from the spherical/cylindrical bow, and towed arrays.

In the Akulas the data from the conformal array is also available in the Broadband Sonar Station.

These inputs are used to detect and track submarines and surface ships. Here trackers can be

assigned to contacts and they are given an alphanumeric Contact Designation or ID. Contact IDs for

all sonar contacts begin with the letter S.Trackers provide the TMA station with updates on the

contact’s bearing at specified time intervals.

NOTE:

UUV sonar contacts also have Sierra (S) designations, but their data is not reported in the

Sonar Suite. UUV data is available in TMA and on the Nav and Fire Control maps.

SEAWOLF AND 688(I): BROADBAND WATERFALL DISPLAYS

Both the 688I and Seawolf submarines utilize dual waterfall displays to track sonar information. In

the waterfall display, sonar information ‘cascades’ down over time giving a sense of the contact’s

movement. Bearing is displayed on the horizontal axis with either north (000) or south (180) in the

center.Time is displayed on the vertical axis, with the most recent information at the top.

A thin line beneath the V indicator indicates the direction your submarine’s stern is pointing.A faint

orange (Seawolf) or green (688I) line represents a weak contact while a strong contact appears as

a brighter, thicker line.The speckled background represents background noise interference.The

amount of interference increases as background noise increases.

Both the upper and lower waterfall displays show broadband sonar data. It is a good idea to have

one display set on Short Time Average (1–60 seconds) and the other on Intermediate (0–30

minutes) or Long (0–2 hours).The longer the time averaging that is employed the better the sonar

detection processing. However, the longer the time averaging, the longer the time between contact

updates. Both the spherical sensor and the towed array pick up broadband data in the Seawolf and

688(I).The information displayed depends on which sensor is selected.

Ownship Indicator

Contact

Tracker

Bearing Indicator

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