Set up on May 14, 1993.
Its basic lines of research activities are:
- fundamental and applied studies; development of new models of hydroacoustic panoramic means for water area surveys; search for and detection of sunken objects, including small-sized ones; investigations of bottom contour, profiling and stratification of bottom sediments; checks of the integrity of underwater engineering structures and prospecting for mineral deposits in the World Ocean;
- development of hydroacoustic and other radio-electronic devices for special purposes;
- investigations towards developing information hardware and complexes to control the environmental condition of water areas;
- international cooperation in hydroacoustic studies of the World Ocean, with a view to assimilating advanced foreign experience, equipment and technologies necessary for the economic progress and environment protection in Ukraine.
The Center completed 19 R&D projects, 6 of them being fundamental, 6 - applied and 7 - contractual. Relying on their results, the stationary problem of detecting echo-signal from silted impedance objects of spherical or cylindrical shape was solved, a mathematical model of layered inhomogeneous bottom with impedance inclusions and a method to synthesize spatial distribution of acoustic properties of bottom sediment were developed; algorithms for optimal processing of GBO interferograms with phasemeter channels and methods for linearizing coordinate transformation of echograms were developed and implemented. A method for processing interferometric transformation of GBO, based on the analysis of correlation matrix of some realizations with the succession of references for creating 3D images of seabed, was developed. The Center advanced a theory and a concept to produce a new generation of novel panoramic acoustic systems, published 3 monographs on the development of panoramic acoustic systems for studying the World Ocean, developed state-of-the-art equipment: EM-100 echo sounder, GEBO-100M, GBO-50, GBO-100MP, GBO-100MPA side-looking sonars, a prototype of PG profilograph; it secured 11 patents for innovations. Studies of bottom contours near 'Academician Vernadsky' Antarctic station, of Dnieper Reservoir soils on the sites of drinking-water inlets, examination of bottom contours of typical Black Sea shelf areas along the route of 'Eupatoria-Kerch' communications cable, bottom surveys of certain areas of the Black Sea to detect hazardous sunken objects were done for the first time ever. The Center published over 70 scientific and engineering papers and presentations made at international scientific conferences, organized two international theoretical and practical conferences; every year it publishes a volume of collected academic works "Hydroacoustical Journal (Problems, Methods and Means of Studying the World Ocean)".
The Center has established fruitful academic ties and contacts with numerous institutions in Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Canada, Moldova, Iran; it trains research personnel through postgraduate courses.