Sonar

Sonar (SOund Navigation And Ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect objects on or under the surface of the water. In the simplest terms, an electrical impulse from a transmitter is converted into a sound wave by the transducer and sent into the water. When this wave strikes an object, it rebounds. This echo strikes the transducer, which converts it back into an electric signal. This signal is then amplified by the receiver and sent to the display. Two types of technology share the name "sonar": passive sonar is essentially listening for the sound made by vessels; active sonar is emitting pulses of sounds and listening for echoes. Sonar may be used as a means of acoustic location and of measurement of the echo characteristics of "targets" in the water. Sonar may also be used in air for robot navigation, and SODAR is used for atmospheric investigations. The term sonar is also used for the equipment used to generate and receive the sound. The acoustic frequencies used in sonar systems vary from very low (infrasonic) to extremely high (ultrasonic). The study of underwater sound is known as underwater acoustics or hydroacoustics.

Types
Traditional Sonar: Single Beam Sounding Traditional sonar is referred to as single beam sounding. While such systems have existed for over 50 years, confidence in the technology is often misplaced. The beam-width of most single beam sounders varies between 10 and 30 degrees. The transducer is customarily mounted in a vessel, and although the vessel may be equipped with a heave sensor, there is normally no way to measure the orientation of the transducer during operation. Sidescan Sonar: Sidescan sonar was developed to address the limitations of single beam sounding. Sidescan sonar, like a single beam sounder, transmits sound energy and thereafter analyzes the strength of the return signal that has bounced off the seafloor or other objects. The sound energy, however, is transmitted from the sides of a towfish, creating a fanlike beam on either side that sweeps the seafloor. The return signal is continuously recorded, creating a picture of the seafloor and any other objects. Multibeam Sonar: A significant advance over sidescan sonar systems is multibeam sonar. As its name implies, multibeam sonar employs a multitude of individual sonar beams to ensonify the seafloor. Such sonar can be transmitted from a towfish or from a hull mounted transducer. Multibeam, or swath, sonar systems provide fanshaped coverage of the seafloor, but the output data is different. Instead of continuously recording the strength of the return echo, the multibeam system measures and records the time for the acoustic signal to travel from the transducer to the seafloor and back.

History

Although some animals (dolphins and bats) have used sound for communication and object detection for millions of years, use by humans in the water is initially recorded by Leonardo Da Vinci in 1490: a tube inserted into the water was said to be used to detect vessels by placing an ear to the tube. In the 19th century an underwater bell was used as an ancillary to lighthouses to provide warning of hazards. The use of sound to 'echo locate' underwater in the same way as bats use sound for aerial navigation seems to have been prompted by the Titanic disaster of 1912. The world's first patent for an underwater echo ranging device was filed at the British Patent Office by English meteorologist Lewis Richardson a month after the sinking of the Titanic, and a German physicist Alexander Behm obtained a patent for an echo sounder in 1913.

Performance factors
Sound propagation Scattering Target characteristics Countermeasures

Active sonar
Active sonar uses a sound transmitter and a receiver. When the two are in the same place it is monostatic operation. When the transmitter and receiver are separated it is bistatic operation. When more transmitters or more receivers are used, again spatially separated, it is multistatic operation. Most sonars are used monostatically with the same array often being used for transmission and reception. To measure the distance to an object, the time from transmission of a pulse to reception is measured and converted into a range by knowing the speed of sound. To measure the bearing, several hydrophones are used, and the set measures the relative arrival time to each, or with an array of hydrophones, by measuring the relative amplitude in beams formed through a process called beamforming. Use of an array reduces the spatial response so that to provide wide cover multibeam systems are used. The target signal (if present) together with noise is then passed through various forms of signal processing, which for simple sonars may be just energy measurement. It is then presented to some form of decision device that calls the output either the required signal or noise.

Passive sonar
Passive sonar listens without transmitting. It is often employed in military settings, although it is also used in science applications, e.g., detecting fish for presence/absence studies in various aquatic environments - see also passive acoustics and passive radar. In the very broadest usage, this term can encompass virtually any analytical technique involving remotely generated sound, though it is usually restricted to techniques applied in an aquatic environment.

How is it used?
The use of "real" sonar dates back to the early 1900's. It was applied to hazard detection. When waves break against shore, they can be heard. The sound travels in water better than in air. If you can hear waves breaking against something and if you know which way the sound is coming from, you can

avoid that area and the breaking waves. Oceanographers all over the world apply it to the study of all kinds of stuff on the bottom. Sonar also has uses in looking at everything between the bottom itself and the waves on the top of the ocean. Those who look for the wrecks of ships have made popular video presentations about their exploits. The discovery of Titanic was widely viewed. Geologists can use sonar mapping to look below the ocean bottom to learn something about the underlying rock structures. Oil companies have been using this application of sonar for years. Fishermen use it big time. Commercial fishing vessels are uniformly equipped with it. They want to know where to fish and where not to risk their nets because of snags and terrain. There are a lot of sport fishing rigs that have the technology aboard. A fisherman can locate fish habitat that may be productive using sonar mapping, and can relocate it upon a return trip.

Warfare use
Examples of sonar applications in military use are given below. Many of the civil uses given in the following section may also be applicable to naval use. Anti-submarine warfare Torpedoes Mines Mine countermeasures Submarine navigation Aircraft Underwater communications Ocean surveillance Underwater security Hand-held sonar Intercept sonar

Civilian applications
Fisheries Echo sounding Net location Ship velocity measurement ROV and UUV Vehicle location

Scientific applications
Biomass estimation Wave measurement Water velocity measurement Bottom type assessment

Bottom topography measurement Sub-bottom profiling

Synthetic aperture Parametric

Sonar use in animals

Up to this day, militaries still train dogs to guard sites and soldiers, find explosives and conduct search and rescue. But still another animal aids the military by going where dogs and horses can't underwater. Undersea mines have been responsible for sinking or damaging many ships since World War II. In fact, more ships have been damaged from mines than from all other causes combined. Realizing their irresistible friendliness, trainability and affinity for humans, the U.S. Navy has been training bottlenose dolphins since the 1960s to find explosive mines underwater, as well as other suspicious objects and swimmers. Though they don't technically disarm the dangerous mines, the dolphins do locate the mines for humans to subsequently disarm or avoid them. Using fish as a reward, the Navy has trained dolphins to spot suspicious, manmade, metal objects from far away. The dolphin learns to search for a mine, and upon finding one, swims back up to the boat to poke an appropriate signifier, such as a ball, with its nose. The humans then give the dolphin a buoy or a special device known as an acoustic transponder, which the animal leaves in the area it spotted the mine. This device produces a distinct sound that allows human divers to find it later. Unlike the mechanical devices the Navy builds to detect mines, dolphins can tell the difference between man-made and natural objects, an invaluable skill given that enemies craftily disguise mines. It turns out that dolphins have a remarkably sophisticated sonar ability to perceive objects in even very murky water. This ability is so sophisticated that human technology hasn't come close to replicating it.

Sources:
wikipedia.org substructure.com wiki.answers.com howstuffworks.com