Development of Sonar technology

Sonar is an electronic equipment that uses sound waves propagating in the ocean to detect targets and locate, identify and track targets. Piezo ceramic ring transducer is the most widely used and most important underwater acoustic equipment in hydroacoustics. Sonar technology refers to the technology developed and applied to the detection performance of sonar equipment. A typical sonar system consists of a water acoustic transmitter, a hydroacoustic transducer (hydrophone), a hydroacoustic receiver, a display, and a controller. The underwater acoustic transmitter mainly uses the excitation source to generate the required electrical signal, and then converts the electrical signal into a suitable acoustic signal to emit into the water through the excitation transducer; if the underwater acoustic signal encounters targets such as submarines, mines and ships, it will be reflected. It is then returned to the underwater acoustic transducer (hydrophone) in the form of a sonar echo; the transducer receives the target signal and converts it into an electrical signal. The electric signal of broadband piezoelectric transducer is amplified and processed by the underwater acoustic receiving equipment, and then the processed target information is fed back to the sonar controller or the display system; finally, according to the processed information, the position of the target can be detected, and the nature of the target is determined. Thereby completing the function of sonar.

Sonar technology has been around for more than 100 years, and Lewis Nixon invented the first sonar receiving equipment in 1906 as a way to detect icebergs. During the First World War, in order to scout the submarine, human interest in sonar began to expand. The passive receiving device is the first sonar device that does not emit a signal and passively listens to the underwater acoustic signal. In 1918, both the United Kingdom and the United States established sound transmission equipment in the water, which uses sonar equipment with acoustic emission and reception. The efficient emission of the invented hydroacoustic sensor and sound enables a more advanced sonar form. The 21st century is the ocean age. The main force of the troops of various countries is concentrated on the development of the navy. The ship sonar equipment is more and more important and Pzt ceramic ring has become the most important underwater acoustic combat system on naval vessels. The underwater acoustic equipment of the ship is mainly used to detect enemy surface ships, underwater weapons, submarines, etc. In the future naval battlefield, more and more advanced underwater acoustic equipment systems will become more and more important. Therefore, one of the important tasks of the navies of various countries is the research on sonar technology and the research and development of sonar equipment.

The earliest sonar in the world is a passive hull sonar with a range-measuring capability for underwater acoustic targets, called the Da Vinci tube sonar. After the end of the First World War, the world's powerful countries accelerated the research process on sonar equipment. Germany mainly researched and developed passive sonar equipment, and the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries mainly studied and developed active sonar equipment. After the Second World War, the theory of underwater sound propagation, reverberation, reflection, and noise and its research and experimental work were fully carried out, which made great progress in piezo cylinder tube used for underwater acoustic and electrical transducer technologies such as passive hydrophones and active radiators.