The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected BAE Systems to develop an undersea navigation system aimed at enhancing the U.S. Navy’s ability to provide precise, global positioning throughout the ocean basins.

The contract will support a program called the Positioning System for Deep Ocean Navigation (POSYDON), which seeks to allow undersea vehicles to accurately navigate while remaining below the ocean’s surface.

Under DARPA’s POSYDON program, a BAE Systems-led team will create a positioning, navigation, and timing system designed to permit vehicles to remain underwater by using multiple, integrated, long-range acoustic sources at fixed locations around the oceans, the company explained.

The vehicle instrumentation needed to capture and process acoustic signals for accurate navigation will also be developed under the program.

Other members of BAE Systems’ POSYDON team are the University of Washington, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Texas at Austin.