An acoustic transducer for swath beams using a semi-cylindrical concave radiation surface

摘要

591856 Disclosed is an underwater swath beam acoustic transducer (100) for projecting far-field acoustic swath beams (108) through water. The transducer (100) is comprised of an array of active acoustic elements (104) that are arranged to collectively provide an elongate concave radiation surface (106) with an associated acoustic aperture (112). Each active acoustic element (104) is operable to project an individual acoustic beam from the radiation surface (106) toward a near-field focal zone of the transducer (100). The transducer (100) also has a control system that is electrically connected to the active acoustic elements (104). The control system is configured to generate electrical driving signals to drive each of the active acoustic elements (104) so as to project far-field acoustic swath beams (108) through water from the transducer (100). The far-field acoustic swath beams (108) are each a superposition of all of the individual acoustic beams such that in the far-field beyond the focal zone the acoustic swath beams (108) have a wide field view in a plane that is transverse to the longitudinal direction of the radiation surface (106) and an acoustic intensity that is substantially uniform across the field of view (FOV). The control system is further configured to receive and process electrical signals from the active acoustic elements (104) that are generated in response to reflected swath beams received by the radiation surface (106).