The challenge holder is a UK-based marine technology company with 48 years’ experience in sonar systems.
Its GeoSwath product family provides simultaneous bathymetry and side-scan sonar data, producing detailed three-dimensional information about seabed depth and shape together with imagery of features and objects on the seabed.
The technology is particularly effective in shallow-water applications. The current GeoSwath platform provides a 240° field of view, seabed coverage of up to 12 times water depth and simultaneous bathymetric and side-scan acquisition. It is available with 125, 250 and 500 kHz transducers.
GeoSwath has applications including:
- hydrographic surveying;
- rapid environmental assessment;
- seabed mapping;
- dredging surveys;
- infrastructure inspection; and
- autonomous and uncrewed survey operations.
A dedicated GeoSwath USV configuration is already available for installation on uncrewed surface vessels and can undertake coastal, offshore and hard-to-reach surveys.
At the heart of the system is specialist electronics responsible for acquiring and processing multiple phase-sensitive acoustic channels. Precise timing, synchronisation and signal processing allow the system to determine the angle and range of acoustic returns and consequently calculate seabed depth.
The principal electronics architecture was developed more than 15 years ago. A number of critical electronic components have subsequently become obsolete and are no longer commercially available.
As a result, manufacture of new systems has been suspended pending development of replacement electronics.
The underlying acoustic technology, transducers, software and system capability remain relevant. The challenge is therefore to modernise the electronics without unnecessarily redesigning the entire sonar system.
This creates an opportunity not simply to reproduce an older PCB, but to take advantage of substantial advances in electronic hardware and signal-processing technology over the intervening period.
The Challenge
The challenge holder is seeking innovative organisations capable of developing a modern electronics solution to replace the obsolete high-speed acquisition and signal-processing architecture within the GeoSwath sonar system.
The solution must perform the precision multi-channel acquisition, timing, synchronisation and processing necessary for interferometric sonar while integrating with the existing GeoSwath system.
The challenge is not intended to be a simple component substitution exercise.
The challenge holder is interested in solutions that use contemporary electronic architectures to produce a platform that is:
- technically capable;
- manufacturable;
- maintainable;
- supportable over the long term;
- resilient to component obsolescence; and
- capable of supporting future development.
Potential approaches may include, but are not limited to:
- modern high-speed analogue-to-digital conversion;
- FPGA-based architectures;
- System-on-Chip technologies;
- modern digital signal-processing devices;
- highly integrated multi-channel acquisition systems; and
- alternative architectures capable of achieving the required performance.
The challenge holder does not wish to prescribe the technical architecture and welcomes alternative innovative approaches.
Detailed information regarding the existing electronics, system interfaces and proprietary signal-processing requirements will be made available to the selected solution provider under appropriate confidentiality arrangements.
Solutions may build upon existing technologies or proven electronic architectures, but applicants should be capable of progressing their proposed solution to a functional integrated prototype suitable for acoustic testing and subsequent at-sea validation within the project period.
Funding:The selected solution provider will be eligible to apply for up to £60K to develop the proposed solution over a 3-month project.
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Entrants to this competition must be:
- Established businesses, academic institutions, start-ups, SMEs, or individual entrepreneurs
- UK based or have the intention to set up a UK base
Your project must:
- Have a grant funding request up to £60,000 (eligible costs only, see below).
- Start 1st March 2027 and complete by 31st May 2027
- Carry out its project work in the UK.
- Intend to exploit the results from or in the UK.
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The proposed solution must:
- provide the multi-channel acquisition capability necessary for GeoSwath interferometric sonar;
- maintain or improve the existing system’s acoustic and hydrographic performance;
- accurately preserve phase and timing relationships between receiving channels;
- support real-time acquisition and processing requirements;
- integrate with the existing GeoSwath transducer family;
- interface with the wider GeoSwath hardware and software architecture;
- be capable of being manufactured using currently available components;
- use components with an appropriate expected commercial lifetime and supply-chain availability;
- be designed with future maintainability and component substitution in mind;
- be suitable for integration into a commercially manufacturable sonar system; and
- provide an architecture capable of supporting future product development where practicable.
The solution should, where technically and commercially beneficial:
- reduce component count and design complexity;
- improve processing capability;
- reduce power consumption, size or weight;
- improve manufacturability;
- simplify testing and diagnosis;
- facilitate future integration with autonomous or uncrewed platforms; and
- provide headroom for future signal-processing developments.
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The proposed solution must be capable of acquiring and processing the phase-sensitive acoustic signals required by the GeoSwath interferometric sonar technique.
The current GeoSwath system provides simultaneous bathymetry and side-scan acquisition and operates at update rates of up to 30 swaths per second.
The replacement architecture will therefore need to provide sufficient:
- analogue bandwidth;
- analogue-to-digital conversion performance;
- sampling stability;
- timing accuracy;
- inter-channel phase accuracy;
- channel synchronisation;
- processing capacity;
- data throughput; and
- interface performance
to maintain or improve current system performance.
Compatibility with the existing 125, 250 and 500 kHz GeoSwath transducer families is required.
The successful applicant will work with GeoAcoustics to agree detailed performance requirements during the project.
Detailed signal characteristics, interface specifications, schematics and proprietary processing information will be provided following selection and, where appropriate, under NDA.
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The electronics will ultimately be incorporated into equipment intended for operation aboard survey vessels and uncrewed surface vessels in marine environments.
The solution must therefore:
- be suitable for reliable operation within marine survey equipment;
- tolerate the environmental conditions normally experienced by marine electronics;
- be compatible with the existing GeoSwath system installation arrangements;
- be suitable for practical manufacture, assembly, test and service;
- provide appropriate resistance to electrical noise and interference; and
- be capable of stable operation over extended survey periods.
Current GeoSwath electronics are specified for operation from 0°C to 40°C, with storage from -20°C to 70°C. The detailed environmental specification for the replacement electronics will be agreed with the successful applicant.
Testing will initially be undertaken in laboratory and controlled acoustic conditions before progressing to representative marine trials.
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The challenge is not seeking:
- a completely new sonar transducer;
- replacement of the GeoSwath acoustic principle;
- complete redesign of the GeoSwath software application;
- a wholly new hydrographic sonar system;
- simple brokerage or sourcing of obsolete components;
- solutions dependent upon components already approaching end-of-life;
- solutions that create unacceptable single-source component dependencies;
- solutions that cannot reasonably be manufactured and supported commercially; or
- approaches requiring disclosure or transfer of unnecessary challenge holder background intellectual property.
Proposals that require changes elsewhere within the system may be considered where they provide a compelling technical or commercial benefit, but applicants should clearly identify such dependencies.
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Successful applicants will be invited to pitch their proposed solution to the challenge holder.
The selected applicant will then be eligible to apply for up to £60K grant funding to develop the proposed technology through a 3-month development project.
The challenge holder will support the successful applicant with:
- access to experienced sonar, electronics, software and systems engineers;
- detailed technical knowledge of the GeoSwath architecture;
- access to existing GeoSwath systems and transducers;
- representative reference electronics;
- software and integration support;
- an in-house acoustic test tank;
- laboratory and system-integration facilities; and
- access to survey vessels operating from Lowestoft for representative at-sea trials.
This enables a staged development pathway:
electronic prototype → bench testing → controlled acoustic testing → system integration → vessel installation → at-sea validation.
If the development is successful, the challenge holder intends to incorporate the resulting technology into future GeoSwath production.
The opportunity therefore offers a credible route from funded R&D to commercial deployment rather than ending at prototype stage.
There is also potential for further collaboration on subsequent developments and next-generation marine sensing products.
The benefits package for a successful applicant may also include:
- Support from Innovate UK Business Connect
- Support in the development of a prototype or pilot
- Technical support
- Invitation to attend or present at Innovate UK Business Connect events
- A potential business collaboration
- Investor introductions (if investment is required)
- Support if any Innovate UK or similar competitions are relevant
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- Challenge launch: 5 October 2026
- Deadline for applications: Friday 6 November 2026
- Review of applicants: Monday 9 – Friday 13 November 2026
- Selection and notification of finalists: Friday 13 – Tuesday 17 November 2026
- Pitch Day: Wednesday 25 November – Wednesday 3 December 2026
- Confirm selected solution provider: By Friday 4 December 2026
- Submission to Innovation Funding Service (IFS): December 2026
- Project length: 3 months. (Starting by 1 March 2027 and complete no later than 31 May 2027)