by United States. Introduction to sonar

SONAR (sound navigation and ranging) systems have many similarities to RADAR and electro-optical systems. Again, detection is based on the propagation of waves between the target and detector. There are active sonar systems, where the wave propagates from the transmitter to the target and back to the receiver, analogous to pulse-echo radar. There are also passive sonar systems, where the target is the source of the energy which propagates to the receiver, analogous to passive infrared detection. Therefore, a great deal of what has been discussed about these systems will also apply to sonar. Sonar, however, differs fundamentally from radar and electro-optics because the energy is transferred by acoustics waves propagating in water. So we first begin by discussing the characteristics of acoustic waves.