Echolocation: How ships see using sound waves

Members:
Alcaraz, Kenneth Jasper
Coralde, Shaun Christian
Malinao, Bernalyn
Mateo, Jan Denver
Soriano, Andrian Sonny
Introduction
Biomimicry is engineering inspired by nature. Naturally echolocation is used by bats,
with ears like no other mammals bats can hear sound waves with very high frequency
compared to humans. Bats are blind but with echolocation they have a different way to
visualize their surroundings. This idea helped scientists and engineers solve the problem
of having very dark and deep oceans where light could not reach. Echolocation opened
a lot of opportunities like navigation, fish finding, rescue missions, and other deep ocean
exploration.
Sound is a mechanical wave that results from the back and forth vibration of the particles
of the medium through which the sound wave is moving. If a sound wave is moving from
left to right through air, then particles of air will be displaced both rightward and leftward
as the energy of the sound wave passes through it. The motion of the particles is parallel
(and anti-parallel) to the direction of the energy transport. This is what characterizes
sound waves in air as longitudinal waves.
Two types of Sound Navigation and Ranging (SONAR)
SONAR is short for Sound Navigation and Ranging. One of the earliest SONAR-like
devices was invented by naval architect Lewis Nixon in 1906. It was designed to detect
icebergs underwater to help ships navigate around them. This detection system became
more important after the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. But when World War I began in
1914, heavy research into submarine detection became necessary. In 1915, French
physicist Paul Langevin worked with Russian engineer Constantin Chilowski to develop
the first active SONAR device for detecting submarines.
This technology continued to improve and was even more helpful by World War II, and is
still used on military vessels today. SONAR technology mostly grew due to naval military
use. However, it is very helpful in underwater exploration and is used widely today.
Oceanographers are scientists who study the ocean and ocean geography. They use
SONAR to map the seafloor, measure water depths, and help find shipwrecks. Multibeam
SONAR devices allow their images to be viewed even better. By using computer mapping
software, they can turn the SONAR echoes or “soundings” into rainbow-colored maps
and 3D models.
There are two types of SONAR which is active and passive. Passive sonar is where the
wave propagates from the transmitter to the target and back to the receiver it is a listening
device only and the sound waves produced by another source are received and changed
into electrical signals for display on a monitor. While Active sonar is a system where the
target is the source of the energy which propagates to the receiver, analogous to passive
infrared detection and it sends out sound waves in pulses. Scientists then measure the
time it takes these pulses to travel through the water, reflect from an object, and return to
the ship.
How are sound waves used in SONAR?
A sonar consists of a transmitter, transducer, receiver, and display. In the simplest terms,
an electrical impulse from a transmitter (such as a very short burst of electrical energy
generated by an electronic “power pack”) is converted into a sound wave (which is also
a very short burst of high frequency sound energy) by the transducer and sent into the
water. When this wave strikes an object, it rebounds. Sonar uses pulses of sound waves
underwater to find the distance to a sound-reflecting target. Since the speed of sound is
about 196,000 times slower than light (in sea water), the response time for sonar is
proportionately longer. Sonar can be both passive and active. You can listen to sounds
made by other subs' propulsion without giving away your position. That is very important
in Anti-Submarine Warfare, and is why quieter submarines have an edge on survivability.
Then there's the prospects of electromagnetic jamming. Sonar jamming wouldn't be
practical, because it would reveal your position and wouldn't mask your propulsion
signature very well. The only way to mask your engine using audio countermeasures
would be to generate a negative waveform of your signature and produce it in real time,
which is very hard and also impractical.
How does sonar works to navigate underwater?
Sonar works by sending out sound waves and measuring how long it takes for the echo
to return. If the water is shallow, sound waves that reflect off the bottom of the ocean will
return faster than in deep sea. In deeper water, the sound waves take longer to travel to
the bottom and back. The simplest sonar devices send out a sound pulse from a
transducer, and then precisely measure the time it takes for the sound pulses to be
reflected back to the transducer. The distance to an object can be calculated using this
time difference and the speed of sound in the water (approximately 1,500 meters per
second). More sophisticated sonar systems can provide additional direction and range
information. Sonar was developed during World War I as an aid in finding both
submarines and icebergs. Major improvements were made on this technology during
World War II, and eventually scientists adapted the highly sensitive equipment for use in
oceanographic research.