All Theory Flashcards
How are radars used to detect submarines?
Periscope detection
Wake detection
What underwater threat are lazers used for?
Mines
What is a MAD?
Magnetic Anomoly Detector - Detects variations in Earth’s magnetic field caused by subs.
What is the range of SONAR?
10 Nm
What are the two main types of sonar?
Active and Passive
What do you get from Active sonar that you do not get from passive?
Range information
What is a Monostatic SONAR system?
Transmitter and receiver are co-located
Bistatic SONAR system
Transmitter and receiver are separated by a distance comparable to the distance to the target.
What are the SONAR systems aboard the CPF’s?
HMS
CANTASS
NIXIE
Dipping Sonar
Sonobuoys
Draw the Active SONAR block diagram and explain what each component does.
Trigger: Ensures the system is synchronized
Beamformer: Steers the transmit beam in the desired direction and listens in the desired direction.
Transmitter: Generates proper waveform at proper frequency and power level.
T/R Switch: Isolates receiver from high power pulses.
Transducer Array: Transmit and receive.
Receiver: Detects echo, amplifies, filters.
Data Manager: Stores data, tracking, TMA
Display: Displays that shit
Draw and label a SONAR pulse train
Describe a Longitudinal Wave
“L waves”, the displacement of the medium is in the same direction as the direction of travel.
What does the Bulk Modulus (B) represent?
Resistance to compression.
Describe a Moving Coil Transducer
A solenoid is attached to a flexible piston which moves air.
Typically used for audio speakers.
Describe a magnetorestrictive Transducer
Magnetic field induces changes in shape or dimension.
Explain Piezoelectric Transducer
Electric field induces changes in shape or dimension.
Describe an Air Gun Array transducer
Penumatic chamber is pressurized with compressed air and a piston discharges a high pressure air bubble into the water.
Define Hydrophone vs. Projector vs. Transducer
Hydrophone - Receive only
Projector - Transmit only
Transducer - Transmit and receive
What are the negative effects of Cavitation on SONAR?
Erosion of projector surface
Loss of acoustic power due to absorption and scattering by the bubbles
Deterioration of the beam pattern
Impedence mismatch between projector and medium (tuned for water, now air)
How do we limit interaction effects between projectors in a SONAR array?
Separating elements up to lambda/2
Increase size of elements
Using individual amplifiers
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At what bearing do you get ambiguous bearings when beamforming?
60 degrees
How do we remove ambiguous beams when beamforming?
Additional sensors
TMA
What are Grating Lobes in a transducer array?
When the hydrophones are too far apart for the wavelength we are receiving, the time between samples across the array is less than 2 samples per period (Nyquist Theorem), causing aliasing in the form of grating lobes. These lobes can be confused for the actual main lobe.
What are the types off losse which cause Transmission Loss?
Spreading
Absorption
Scattering
Describe Spherical, Cylindrical, and Mixed spreading
Spherical spreading occurs at first, but when the wave reaches the ocean surface and the sea bottom, it becomes Cylindircal, resulting in mixed spreading.
What is the absorption coefficient
It tells us the energy loss as a fraction per unit length travelled through water, expressed in dB/km
What are the mechanisms of Absorption in water?
Viscosity
Ionic Relaxation
Scattering
Describe how the viscosity of water leads to absorption losses
As the pressure wave travels through the water, molecules rub against eachother, converting the kinetic energy into heat via friction, resulting in a raise in temperature.
Describe how Ionic Relaxation leads to absorption losses.
Is it more likely at high or low frequencies and why?
Also what is Relaxation Frequency?
Change in state of chemicals absorbed in seawater, triggered by the pressure variations from the pressure wave.
It is more likely at low frequencies because the change in pressure must be slow enough for the change of state to take place. The frequency at which this occurs is called the Relaxation Frequency.
How does scattering result in losses?
Inhomogeneities in the index of refraction of water cause re-radation of incident sound waves.
It is effectively constant in water.
What are the three main approximations to modelling wave propagation in water?
Ray Tracing
Normal Modes
Parabolic Equation
Describe Ray Tracing
A Ray is a line indicating the direction of propagation of the wavefront.
The more two rays spread, the lower the intensity.
Snell’s law tells us how the rays bend in the medium.
Describe Convergence Zones
Sound waves will travel down to the isothermal layer and refract back up. They tend to converge around 30, 60, and 90nm.
What are the 3 scenarios where Ray Tracing is not effective?
When two rays cross eachother (Caustic)
Shadow Zones
When pressure or raidus of curvature changes over the distance of one wavelength (at low frequencies).
What is a Shadow Zone?
Rays do not reach these areas due to the refraction pattern.
What is a Caustic?
When rays overlap to create points of increased intensity.
Explain Normal Mode theory
Water column is treated like a waveguide. Propagating modes are calculated and summed to obtain a pressure distribution.
What is an advantage of Normal Mode theory over Ray Tracing?
Ray Tracing does not account for diffraction.