Design of Shared Aperture Sensor Combining Composite Rod Underwater Transducer With Patch Antenna

Hybrid aquatic aerial vehicle (HAAV) is a compact vehicle. It can be equipped with radar antenna and underwater transducer for air–water detection. Owing to the vehicle size limitation, the aperture of sensor array is restricted. The layout of antenna and transducer array with separate apertures reduces the number of sensors operating in the air or underwater. This affects the detection performance. To tackle this problem, this article presents a design method for a shared aperture sensor. The method combines a composite rod underwater transducer and a patch antenna. It aims to enhance aperture utilization and improve the vehicle’s detection performance. In this article, solid-state multimedia acoustic isolation model is established for the acoustic loss problem caused by the proposed sensor structure. The simulation results indicate that the patch antenna in this sensor structure has minimal impact on acoustic waves. Furthermore, this article designs a patch antenna and an underwater transducer for fabricating the physical object of the common aperture sensor. Finally, a signal transmission comparison experiment between the shared aperture sensor and a single antenna and transducer is designed. The experimental results show that compared with the antenna and transducer, the shared aperture sensor’s various electromagnetic and acoustic performance indices are within an acceptable range. It can better fulfill the functions of receiving and transmitting electromagnetic and acoustic waves.