Self-monitoring sonar transducer array with internal accelerometers

To achieve the maximum detection range for active sonars, it is desirable to maximize their acoustic power. In attempting to do so, there are two limitations which are caused by cavitation on the face of the transducer and an interaction effect between transducer elements of the array. To avoid these limitations, a method is proposed for driving the array elements in phase with a uniform velocity to yield the desired radiation. For this purpose, a sonar transducer array which has internal accelerometers for monitoring the motion of the transducer element is being developed. This paper presents an outline of this sonar array and a method of high-speed numerical calculation which was developed for the prediction of the radiation characteristics of the array using the fractional Fourier transform algorithm.