The properties of the ocean environment have a significant impact on the performance of the sonar systems used on both surface ships and submarines. The types of data that need to be considered range from ocean temperature and salinity to the position of wrecks on the seabed and current marine traffic. These properties can dramatically change a sonar system’s ability to detect a given target with certain conditions potentially rendering sonar targets completely invisible in what is known as a “shadow zone” or obscuring them within environmental noise. Understanding how these environmental properties interact in three dimensions and how they evolve over time is essential for developing effective anti-submarine warfare (ASW) strategies, or conversely for developing an evasion strategy for a submarine. A software system has been developed that presents more than 10 different ocean data layers in a virtual environment that can be viewed either via a desktop application, a virtual reality (VR) headset or using a holographic display. Different data presentation styles are adopted for different datasets to best display the relevant information to the user, with the user able to toggle multiple layers on or off and adjust various layer properties to interrogate details of the datasets. Additionally, an acoustic ray-tracing model has been integrated into the system, allowing detailed propagation paths between two points in the environment to be computed, and displayed in the 3D model. This paper describes the software development approach used to create the virtual environment and describes how different data types are displayed. The system has also been trialled ashore with current multinational naval operators to assess the usability of this tool on future operations. A summary of their feedback is presented along with a discussion of future developments.

Keywords
AUGMENTED AND VIRTUAL REALITY (AR/VR)

Additional Keywords
Sonar, Underwater Environment, Environmental Picture