METHOD OF DETERMINING DISTANCE TO OBJECT LOCATED IN THICKNESS OF BOTTOM SOIL Russian patent published in 2024 - IPC G01S15/04 G01S15/08 G01S15/89 

FIELD: hydroacoustics.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to the field of hydroacoustics and can be used in the development of means of searching for objects located in the upper layer of the seabed, and invisible for such sonar means as side-scanning sonar. According to the disclosed solution, a pulsed acoustic signal is emitted from the carrier of the sonar equipment into the aqueous medium, an acoustic signal reflected from the bottom soil is received by the receiving system, time t of acoustic signal propagation from the emitter to the reflecting object and from the reflecting object to the receiving system is measured. Carrier of the sonar equipment with the hydroacoustic emitter is moved above the bottom at a distance from the bottom Z₁, which is related to depth Z₂ of the intended location of the object in the bottom soil by the ratio Z₁=Z₂/ρ₁₂ (ρ₁₂=ρ₁/ρ₂, ρ₁, ρ₂ – density of water and soil, respectively). In this case, a vertically oriented radiator directed in a vertical plane is used as an emitter, vertical size of which L₁ is related to the expected maximum distance to the object R located in the bottom soil by ratio L₁²=λR (λ is the wavelength). A horizontally oriented antenna directed in a horizontal plane is used as a receiving system, horizontal dimension of which L₂ is related to spatial resolution δR in the direction of movement of the carrier of the sonar equipment by the ratio L₂=1.2 λR/δR. An acoustic signal is emitted in the traverse direction and the distance from the radiator to the object located in the thickness of the bottom soil is calculated using a predetermined propagation speed of a non-uniform boundary type wave (Brewster wave).

EFFECT: increase in the range of detection of objects located in the thickness of the bottom soil, the reflecting capacity (target force) of which is low, and reducing the "dead zone" of control associated with the masking effect of signals reflected directly from the water-sea bottom interface.

1 cl, 2 dwg