Acoustic vector transducer technology has attracted much attention from the underwater acoustic industry

The underwater vector transducer is composed of a traditional non-directional sound pressure sensor and a dipole-directed point vibration velocity sensor. It can simultaneously measure the sound pressure at a point in the sound field and several orthogonal components of the particle vibration velocity. The amplitude and phase information provided new ideas for solving some underwater acoustic problems. Because of its actual and potential engineering application value, the acoustic vector sensor technology related to this has attracted much attention from the underwater acoustics community in the last ten years. This article attempts to summarize the development history, status quo and some research progress of acoustic vector sensor technology in physical foundation, ultrasonic sensor design and production, and related engineering applications in the past fifty years.

As a new type of underwater acoustic measurement equipment, the acoustic vector transducer can not only measure the most common scalar physical quantity in the sound field-sound pressure, but also directly and synchronously measure the fluid medium particle vibration velocity vector in the cartesian coordinate system at the same point in the sound field. The following x,,,: axial projection component, generally used in the form of three-component and two-component. In structure, it is composed of a traditional non-directional sound pressure sensor and a dipole-directed particle velocity transducer . The particle velocity transducer is the core component, and its sensitivity and working stability restrict the sound vector. The design, production, processing, assembly, calibration and use of sensors and many other links.

Although this paper refers to this type of sensor as an acoustic vector  transducer , it has different names at home and abroad. For example, Russia refers to the particle vibration velocity transducer as a vectorer-ceiver, and the acoustic vector sensor It is called a composite receiver (conlbinederceiver); in the United States, the sound vector transducer is also called a sound pressure-velocity sensor (presure-veloeity sensororp), and some are called a sound intensity probe. The main application areas of acoustic vector sensor technology can cover underwater acoustic warning sonar, towed line array sonar, flank array conformal array sonar, mine sound fuze, torpedo detection sonar, multistatic sonar, navigation positioning and distribution of underwater vehicles sensor network, etc. In aeroacoustics, acoustic vector transducer can be used for battlefield alert detection of helicopters and stealth aircraft, noise source identification and sound intensity, sound power measurement, etc. In addition, there are electromagnetic vector transducer , whose signal processing form is similar to that of underwater sound.

　　Acoustic vector transducer technology is one of the research focuses that have attracted much attention from the underwater acoustics  measurement industry in the past ten years. From the classic papers published by American scholars in the mid-1950s on the use of inertial sensors to directly measure the vibration velocity of particles in water, to the successful development of acoustic vector sensors by scholars in the former Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s. (composite hydrophone) The research on marine environmental noise was carried out, and it was not until the 1990s that the research boom of acoustic vector sensor technology gradually emerged.

In 1991, Russian scholars published the world’s first monograph on acoustic vector sensor technology "acoustic vector-phase method, which comprehensively discussed the principles and applications of acoustic vector sensor technology. The American Journal of Acoustics, Vol. 89, No. 3, 1991 And the second issue of Volume 90, published three papers on acoustic vector sensor research by scholars from the United States and Russia. This situation has never happened before. The potential military application prospects of this technology have prompted the U.S. Naval Research Agency (ONR) ) In 1995, he sponsored the Acoustic Society of America to hold a symposium on acoustic vector transducer , and published a collection of essays entitled "Acoustic Particle Vibration Velocity Sensors: Design, Performance, and Application", which basically reflects the current American scholars’ work in this field. Research trends, but so far, it is still one of the most valuable reference materials in this field, and it has also greatly promoted the research in this field. In 1997, a Russian scholar published the monograph "Composite Underwater Acoustic Receiver" s1. A system, specifically discussing the design, production and calibration of acoustic vector transducer.

　　 In 2001, the U.S. Naval Underwater Warfare Center (NUWC) held a seminar on directional acoustic transducer and invited Russian scholars to participate for the first time. In 2002, OCEANS of IEEE established a special network of "Sound Particle Vibration Velocity Sensors", which covers the design, production and experiment of low-frequency and high-frequency sound vector transducer , and the performance of joint information of sound pressure and sound particle vibration velocity in matching field processing, etc. These all reflect the latest research situation. The "Ocean Vector Acoustics" published in 2003 developed the research on the characteristics of the sound pressure scalar field of marine environmental noise, and proposed a complete set of methods based on acoustic vector transducer such as marine experiments, data processing and theoretical analysis. Although the design ideas of modern acoustic vector transducer based on inertial sensors and prototypes of production samples first appeared in the United States, under the active initiative and promotion of Rzhevikn and Zakharov, Russia has to make progress in the basic research and application research of acoustic vector sensor technology. It's farther, and it was rated as one of the top ten underwater acoustic technologies in Russia in the 20th century.

　　 Related domestic work can be traced back to research work on sound pressure gradient hydrophone and dual hydrophone sound intensity measurement in the early 1990s. But the more in-depth research began after 1998. The Songhua Lake experiment in 1998 and the Dalian sea trial in 2000 were the first two field experiments on acoustic vector transducer technology in China, followed by the Reservoir experiment in 2002 and the East China Sea in 2003. The author has the honor to participate in these experiments and related research work.