Solstice

Sonardyne’s Solstice is a multi-aperture side-scan sonar for autonomous underwater vehicles and towfish. Compact 32-element arrays provide a 200-metre-wide swath, 0.15-degree along-track resolution and collocated side-scan imagery with bathymetry while consuming 18 watts. Product configurations are rated to 300 or 600 metres.

Back-projection beamforming focuses every image pixel and compensates for movement of the carrier platform, while real-time calibration corrects dynamic strain across the hydrophone array. The resulting high-contrast seabed imagery supports search, classification and mapping, hydrographic survey, archaeology, salvage and mine-countermeasure work. Solstice supplies the acoustic imaging layer inside a host AUV or towfish; navigation, vehicle endurance and mission execution remain functions of the integrated platform and survey plan.