MULTI-LINE TOWED ACOUSTIC ARRAY SHAPE MEASUREMENT UNIT (SMU)
An acoustic array comprising a plurality of nodes attached to two or more lines. Some or all of the nodes include an emitting transducer and a receiving hydrophone, and the balance include only a receiving hydrophone. Each emitting transducer has associated electronics comprising a high fidelity amplifier and a stored waveform input to the operational amplifier to drive the amplifier, the output of the amplifier exciting the transducer to emit a chirp having a hyperbolic frequency modulated (HFM) waveform. The frequency spectrum of the HFM chirp lies well below the resonant frequency of the transducer. The chirp emitted by a transducer in the node is received and processed by hydrophones in other nodes with a high fidelity representation of the chirp in a cross-correlation operation. Detected chirps are used to determine a range between the emitting and receiving nodes and a shape measurement of the array.
Patent Status: U.S. patent(s) 7,054,229 issued.CONTACT:
Mr. J. E. Dietz
Phone: (443) 778-8782