Carderock Scientist wins Patent for Undersea Mapping Program
NAVSEA News Wire
Release Date: 4/30/2004
By Navy Sea Systems Command Public Affairs
WASHINGTON -- A scientist at Navy Systems Warfare Center (NSWC) Carderock has invented a method for displaying high-risk littoral mine threat areas in geographical regions of interest.
Paulo Tarr won a patent in February for his invention -- a computer program that draws on the ETOPO2 global elevation database giving a detailed view of undersea topography.
The invention - the Mine Littoral Threat Zone visualization Program -- was developed for use in evaluating different degaussing systems, which Tarr's group designs.
"It offers a way of comparing degaussing design performance in an area, in the context of where bottom mines could be laid," says Tarr. A shipboard degaussing system reduces the possibility of detection by magnetic sensitive ordnance or devices.
Any area on earth can be selected for two and three-dimensional display, making it possible to select a region and associate water depths with risk levels.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data - which is developed from satellite altimetry - offers land elevation (including undersea elevation) on a two-minute grid. The computer program Tarr created feeds data into a user-friendly display. The program can be installed on any computer.
"Our display shows the differences in safe operating zones," says Tarr. "If a degaussing system fires down to a 200-foot level, you can easily see the safe operating zones in a particular region for that particular design."
So far, Tarr and his team have used the system to focus in on the Persian Gulf's littoral areas. Wherever it is applied, it offers the means for a helpful "reality check" in evaluating degaussing designs against the regions where they will be used.
The National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) of the (NOAA) developed the Mine Littoral Threat Zone visualization Program.
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