Shark Marine Underwater Navigator
The Shark Navigator Underwater Navigation and Integrated Sonar System (UNIS) has been procured by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) to provide an underwater navigation and search capability for the RAN’s Clearance Diving element in support of general underwater search activities as well as MineCountermeasures (MCM) and underwater Explosives Ordnance Disposal (EOD).
The Shark Navigator is a robust and reliable system requiring minimal maintenance and support. Given requisite care after use in accordance with the Shark Marine maintenance procedures, the system will provide a high level of reliability.
The navigator was designed to give a diver “eyes” in waters too turbid to see, for guidance in the dark without lights, for locating distant objects or targets and for mapping the route to easily relocate them. The Navigator is a complete Windows XP/7 based, underwater computer that is capable of supporting many different sonar heads and numerous other computer based peripherals that may be adapted to the underwater environment. Such items as the Shark Marine SDM-4000 Magnetometer or Gradiometer, video or still cameras, waterproof GPS and a wide range or computer based sensors are all easily integrated using common interface technologies.
Data collected from these sensors is stored on the processors internal hard drive and may be efficiently up-loaded either wirelessly or through wet-mate-able USB ports, to a regular topside computer. Video and Ethernet extensions are also available should the sonar data need to be viewed by observers on the topside, or shared with fellow divers down below. Currently in use by Navy EOD teams, SAR organisations and security personnel around the globe, the Navigator Diver Held Sonar and Guidance System represents the most comprehensive advancement in diver situational awareness technology to date.
