Patent ID: 8355295

Claim:
An underwater sensing and communications node, comprising: a submarine-launched underwater vehicle for travel to and stationing on a seafloor of an underwater environment; a target sensing structure mounted on a forward portion of said underwater vehicle for sensing changes in the underwater environment, said target sensing structure including at least one magnetic sensor, at least one seismic sensor, and at least one pressure sensor; a protective nose releasably coupled to said forward portion of said underwater vehicle and covering said target sensing structure; at least three passive acoustic sensors evenly distributed about a first circumferential region of said underwater vehicle; at least three transceiving hydrophones evenly distributed about a second circumferential region of said underwater vehicle; and a controller coupled to said target sensing structure, said passive acoustic sensors and said transceiving hydrophones, for collecting sensed data from said target sensing structure and said passive acoustic sensors after said protective nose is released from said underwater vehicle so-stationed on the seafloor, and for transmitting said sensed data into the underwater environment via said transceiving hydrophones.