Rockland completes UUV wake detection demonstration under ISC Testing Stream

We are pleased to announce the successful completion of our “IWAKE 2024” field project, funded under the Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC) Testing Stream program and executed in collaboration with Defence Research and Development Canada.

The IWAKE project successfully demonstrated that Rockland’s non-acoustic microstructure turbulence measurement methods can detect unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) by identifying hydrodynamic wake signatures against background turbulence levels in the water column. The primary goal of the project was to demonstrate the wake detection capability of the sensor technology through a field experiment conducted in the Bedford Basin, Nova Scotia, Canada. This involved various modes of deployment of the technology and the use of a self-propelled UUV as the target. Despite encountering several operational difficulties during the field experiment phase–such as adverse weather and currents creating challenging oceanographic background conditions–and the limited availability of UUV size classes for testing, the project achieved its primary objectives.