Surface communication module —
the coordination backbone.
The topside hub of the MCM suite. A dipping waterproof transducer paired with a digital tablet that processes diver and AUV navigation and position data in real time, supports two-way text messaging with divers, and gives the supervisor one coordinated picture of everyone in the water — and it is the surface command unit used by SONABLOW.
Somebody on the surface has to hold the whole picture.
Underwater, every diver and vehicle has only its own slice of the seabed. The Surface Communication Module is where those slices come together: it gives the supervisor a single coordinated view of where each diver, AUV and beacon is, what they are saying and what the network is doing — the difference between a set of separate operators and one MCM team working a problem together.
The surface end of the acoustic network
Track
Through a dipping waterproof transducer, the SCM processes the navigation and position data of divers, AUVs and beacons in real time and displays it on a digital tablet.
Relay
It exchanges two-way text messages with divers — send an SMS, follow their position live — out to 2.2 km, or beyond 5 km using RTsys positioning & relay beacons.
Coordinate
It assembles everything into one supervisor picture — who is where, who is talking, and how the mission is progressing.
Command
When the charge is set, the SCM is the unit that sends the acoustic command to fire one or many SONABLOW devices.
One supervisor, one shared view
The SCM is deliberately the topside anchor of the network. Divers stay covert and untethered; the AUVs survey and relay; the beacons fix positions — and the SCM ties all of it back to a person on the surface who can see the whole task at once.
That keeps decisions where they belong: with a supervisor who has the complete picture, not with isolated operators each guessing at the rest.
See SONADIVE divers →The unit that commands SONABLOW
When a charge is placed, the order to fire comes from the surface. The SCM sends an acoustic command through its transducer to fire underwater detonators — so the team can neutralise on the supervisor's timing, with divers already clear of the blast.
No electric firing lines run back to the surface; the command travels as sound through the water, the same medium the whole network already uses.
See SONABLOW →
Built to run the whole acoustic battlespace
The Surface Communication Module is the topside half of RTsys's manned-and-unmanned MCM teaming. It does not work alone — it is the surface station that makes SONADIVE, the COMET-MCM and SONABLOW behave as one system.
The rest of the MCM suite
SONADIVE
Diver-held sonar and navigation — tracked and connected by the SCM throughout the dive.
Explore SONADIVE →
AUV COMET-MCM
Surveys ahead and relays for the network — another node the SCM coordinates.
Explore the COMET-MCM →SONABLOW
The acoustic firing device the SCM commands when it is time to neutralise.
Explore SONABLOW →Part of a bigger mission
SepcoTech scopes and delivers this as one piece of a cross-supplier capability. See the missions it supports:
A safe pair of hands for defence at sea
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