Stennis researchers prepare ‘quadpod’

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - Researchers from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory at Stennis Space Center (SSC), Miss., have been preparing a 7-foot tall, four-legged instrument platform, called the “quadpod” for a research field deployment experiment off the coast of Virginia. The quadpod was built to withstand being on the bottom of the ocean for weeks at a time, measuring waves, currents, and seafloor change. It is equipped with imaging sonar to capture the motion and burial of munitions on the seafloor, according to research physicist Joseph Calantoni, head of NRL’s Sediment Dynamics Section. He is leading a 12-person team of scientists and engineers to make predictions of the subaqueous environment for the Navy, “and exploit these predictions” to improve underwater acoustic communications, improve the ability to find buried objects (mines), and the Navy’s capacity to put troops on the beach. (Source: US Naval Research Laboratory 08/17/17)