> SLS-PROPRIETARY // NO EXTERNAL RELEASE

# Sounder — SLS-203 (Program SALMON)

**Public name:** Sounder  **Tracking #:** SLS-203  **Codename:** SALMON
**Category:** Subsea Vehicles (UUV)  **Fiscal Year:** FY2024
**Contract award:** 21 November 2023

## Summary

Sounder is the survey/bathymetry UUV and the first subsea platform in the
catalog. SALMON maps the seafloor ahead of the fleet: charting approaches,
finding hazards, and building the prior maps that CEDAR's planners rely on. A
workhorse, not a hunter — optimized for area coverage and data quality.

## Notional Capabilities

- Multibeam echosounder + side-scan sonar for high-resolution bathymetry
- Mission planning with A*/D* and sampling-based coverage paths over prior charts
- Sub-bottom profiling and water-column (CTD) logging on the same sortie
- 24–36 hr survey endurance; lawn-mower and adaptive coverage modes
- Post-mission products feed directly into the SLS prior-map library

## Program References

- "Shallow Water Bathymetry Survey using an Autonomous Surface Vehicle," 2022.
  [arXiv:2207.08492](https://arxiv.org/abs/2207.08492)
- Salish Littoral Systems, *Adaptive Coverage Planning for Bathymetric Survey
  UUVs*, SLS Technical Report TR-203, 2024.
- "An Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV): Development of an Autonomous Boat with a
  Sensor Integration System for Bathymetric Surveys," *Sensors*, 2023.
  [PMC10181514](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10181514/)
- SLS Subsea Group, *Multibeam Survey Data Pipelines for Autonomous Prior-Map
  Generation*, SLS White Paper WP-SALMON-01, 2024.

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