The Lightweight Towed Array Receiver (LTAR) project was initiated in 2009 when a team of Northeastern University scientists partnered with Einhorn Engineering to develop a receiver array suite as part of a lightweight, acoustic system for rapid, wide-area monitoring and measurement of the ocean environment.

This Ocean Acoustic Waveguide Remote Sensing (OAWRS) suite includes both the LTAR (passive receiver) and FMP (active source, described in a separate case study) equipment.  The LTAR system is tailored as a general purpose, mobile, remote sensing tool to study marine life, oceanography, geologic and geophysical properties of the ocean environment.  It is to be applied in both stand-alone, passive sensing applications as well as being paired with the OAWRS Source Array in active sensing deployments.

Einhorn Engineering was selected to provide the mechanical engineering services required to design and oversee fabrication of the handling system. This included specification of a custom tow cable, development/fabrication of the wet side junction box sub-assembly and a handling system designed to be quickly mobilized on a vessel of opportunity.