Sonar
History
Sound Navigation And Ranging (SONAR) developed during WW II
Sound pulses emitted reflected off metal objects with characteristic ping Like radar and lidar time of flight is measured to determine distance Early sonar gave only distance and direction to target Modern sonar used for mapping
History
GIS-compatible bathymetric data now available for many regions
Used for geologic mapping of seafloor Search and recovery operations Environmental monitoring
Principles of SONAR
Sound waves are a mechanical vibration
Can only travel through an elastic medium (air, water, earth)
Measured by frequency instead of wavelength ()
How is frequency related to ?
Principles
f = vw /
Vw is the speed and f is frequency
Usually give as cycles/second or hertz (Hz) Human hearing in the rage of 20 20,000 Hz Sound waves are much slower than EM radiation
In water, sound travels about 1,500 m/s Speed of light is about 3 x 108 m/s
Principles
Ultrasound is used in medicine and sometimes in engineering
Uses frequencies of 1-15 MHz
Principles
In environmental work there are three kinds of sonar
Side-scan
Usually in the range of 100 kHz - 400 kHz
Single beam
Usually at 12 kHz - 200 kHz
Multibeam to 6,000 m deep
Usually at 12 kHz - 200 kHz
Lower frequency = longer range and reduced spatial resolution
Side-Scan Sonar
Has been used to detect objects and map bottom characteristics
Shows size, shape and texture of features Can determine length, width and height
The sonar is usually mounted on a sled or towfish and dragged close to the bottom
About 10% of the maximum acoustic range Low angle to emphasize surface relief
Image swaths about 100-500 m wide Usually do 200% coverage to eliminate gaps
Especially the track underneath the vessel since that is not imaged Far field image is degraded
Side Scan
Strong returns are brighter
Influenced by slope and surface roughness Smooth surface is darker
Objects sticking up will create shadows much like radar
Container ship
Acoustic Lens Sonar
Provides high resolution at close range in turbid water
Developed in the 1990s
Frequencies between 1-2 MHz Range of 1-30 m Uses plastic lenses instead of electronics to focus the beams onto a linear array of acoustic transducers (like imaging scanners)
Produces the image
Acoustic beamforming modifies the propagation of sound by introducing spatially dependent delays into a wavefront.
This focuses incoming sound from a single source or direction into a small volume of space so that it can be detected by a single transducer. Acoustic beamforming can be implemented using electronic circuitry or an acoustic lens
Acoustic Lens Sonar
Used to produce video at a rate of 6-20 frames per second Used primarily by military to see in dark
Single Beam Sonar
Used primarily for mapping channels and for engineering applications Uses only a single source Does not produce much data, because only a single point for each pulse under the transducer
Acoustic data points collected along intertwining transects in Rehoboth Bay, Delaware. The points are classified as algae (green) or no algae (light blue). The points were processed and used to derive a coarse map of the algae distribution (dark green squares).
Multibeam Sonar
Sensor uses an array of sources and receivers
Energy focused on a narrow strip beneath the ship Multiple echoes give a profile of depths along a strip perpendicular to ship track
Swath width depends on depth
Usually 2-4x water depth
