Acoustic barcode based on the acoustic scattering characteristics of underwater targets

Abstract

Underwater target acoustic scattering research is an important branch in the field of underwater acoustic engineering. The application of acoustic scattering characteristics to acoustic coding has great prospects for underwater target identification, navigation and positioning. Based on the echo sound path difference, discontinuous ribbed structures are designed for polydirectional time-domain coding. For the frequency-domain case, geometric Bragg scattering characteristics are transformed into vertical graphical representation through azimuthal coordinate transformation to enable coding. Then, the periodically ribbed structure and the spiral groove structure are designed for frequency-domain coding in the middle- and high-frequency ranges, respectively. Low-frequency coding is completed by exploiting the subsonic Rayleigh wave resonance characteristics of polymer sphere combinations from frequency and azimuthal dimensions. In addition, the use of acoustic scattering characteristics for acoustic coding can be further developed to specifically design coding methods for different structural forms and expand the application scope of underwater acoustics.