Solstice

Multi aperture side scan sonar

Engineered for

Towfish AUV

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Overview

Low power, high resolution sonar imaging

Solstice multi-aperture side-scan sonar (MAS) significantly increases the operational envelope of your underwater vehicle by providing wide swath coverage, at high resolution – all while consuming very low power.

Capture every feature and every detail in ultra-high resolution.

Key benefits

Mission ready; designed to support search, classify and map (SCM) and hydrographic operations
Small and compact arrays; optimised for low-logistic AUVs and towed bodies
Survey more ground in a single pass; 200 m-wide swath ensures high coverage rates
Along track resolution of 0.15°; best in class delivering maximum detection rates
Collocated side scan image and bathy improves your situational awareness
Consumes only 18 W power: budget friendly and increases your AUV’s endurance
Depth rated to 300 or 600 m

Solstice offers enhanced underwater detection capabilities for various missions, including mine countermeasures, archaeological, search, and salvage operations. The system provides high-performance coverage with large 200m swaths on each side, enabling efficient site characterisation without sacrificing detail. Its class-leading imagery allows you to make confident classification decisions more quickly, with the added versatility of deployment on both autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and towfish platforms. By improving probability of detection and decreasing false alarms, Solstice significantly increases the overall efficiency and reliability of underwater exploration and survey missions. It is suitable for:

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV)
Site survey and characterisation
Mine countermeasures (MCM)
Remotely operated vehicles (ROV)
Delivering pixel perfect imaging

Exceptional high-contrast seafloor imagery across diverse water depths

How it works

Solstice, designed by Wavefront Systems and commercialised by Sonardyne, is a world-leading side scan sonar for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and towed bodies. Its advanced technology delivers exceptional seafloor imagery through multiple aperture arrays with 32 multibeam elements, enabling superior signal-to-noise ratio performance and stunning imagery at extended ranges. The sonar’s unique back-projection beam-forming technique ensures focused imaging for every pixel, eliminating distortions caused by platform motion and guaranteeing 100% ground coverage across diverse water depths.

Designed for a wide range of marine missions including hydrographic, archaeological, search, salvage, and mine countermeasure operations, Solstice stands out through its innovative features. Its real-time array calibration dynamically recalibrates hydrophone elements multiple times per second, compensating for dynamic strains and maintaining linear element alignment. The system produces high-contrast imagery in environments ranging from 600-metre depths to very shallow littoral waters, utilising a specialised array technology that provides wide swath coverage with exceptional shadow contrast.