MIND Technology, Inc. has announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) has granted a patent for their MA-X™ technology. MA-X was engineered and designed by MIND’s Klein Marine Systems unit and represents the industry’s first integrated single-beam side scan and gap-filler sonar.

MA-X provides imaging of the nadir zone, or “gap,” with the same interpretive characteristics of side scan sonar, thereby improving survey times by up to 40%. The Company believes that the superior image quality, combined with an increase in efficiency, provides an unmatched value proposition to the industry and creates a clear differentiation from other side scan sonar systems.

Klein’s first product incorporating this technology is the MA-X VIEW 600. This system delivers focused 600-kHz imagery (which is comparable to 900-kHz resolution) with 100% bottom coverage. The superior image quality and long-range performance, combined with the nadir gap filler, increases survey efficiency for complex survey operations, such as renewable energy products and unexploded ordinance. These sonars have been used for USV mine countermeasure operations.

The MA-X VIEW 600 is designed to provide portability, submergence, and optimal stability at all depths to a maximum of 300 meters. This system incorporates Klein BLUE TECHNOLOGY™, representing innovations in transducer, signal conditioning, and processing design.

Commenting on the announcement, Klein’s General Manager, Michael Williams, stated, “We are pleased that the USPTO has recognized our MA-X technology as both novel and complex. The Company’s investment in this innovative technology provides our customers with significant competitive advantages in survey area coverage rate (“ACR”) by helping ensure that mission critical objects are not missed in the sonar nadir.”