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Underwater acoustic scattering signature
Article By:
Burnett, David S. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City Division, Panama City, Florida.
Last reviewed:2014
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.YB150507
Since the early twentieth century, SONAR (SOund Navigation And Ranging) has been used in military, commercial, and scientific applications to help find objects submerged in the oceans. Sonar has been very successful for detection (Is there something out there?), localization (Where is it?), some degree of classification (What type of object is it, for example, human-made or marine organism?), and some degree of identification (What is the object?). To more precisely identify the nature of a detected object, an active sonar technique has recently emerged that produces additional information about the object, including not only its size and shape but also its internal composition. The resulting body of information is referred to as the “acoustic signature” of the object.
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