L-3 Klein 3500 Sonar for Bluefin AUV

Bluefin Robotics, USA, has added the L-3 Klein UUV-3500 sidescan sonar as a option for vehicle payload. The integration effort was internally funded to support company initiatives to expand sensor options. The L-3 Klein UUV-3500 sonar is one of several next-generation, compact digital sensors available on Bluefin vehicles that provide both side scan sonar and interferometric bathymetry data particularly suited for mine countermeasures applications.

In 2012, the Ocean Technology Lab at the University of Victoria first integrated the sonar on a Bluefin-12 by utilising Bluefin's standard payload interface. The team conducted successful demonstrations and survey work in Canadian Arctic and provided valuable feedback to both Bluefin and L-3 Klein regarding system level performance.

Demonstrations to the community will be scheduled for spring of 2014.