UACE2017 Proceedings: Environmentally Neutral Wideband Biomimetic Sonar Signals

• Session:
  Large Time-Bandwidth acoustic signals for target detection and tracking
• Paper:
  Environmentally Neutral Wideband Biomimetic Sonar Signals
• Author(s):
  Peter Dobbins
• Abstract:
  There is an expanding requirement in the defence, offshore, renewable energy, research and leisure sectors to reduce the impact of man-made sound, including active sonar transmissions, on marine mammals. This driven partly by public interest, but mainly by legislation such as the US Marine Mammal Protection Act. Typically, such requirements are met using visual monitoring by Marine Mammal Observers (MMOs) or passive acoustic monitoring (PAM). If animals are detected within a specified range, some form of mitigating action such as shutting down the sound source is then necessary. However, some marine species do not vocalise so, therefore, it may be desirable to look for forms of active sonar transmission that are potentially less harmful to marine life without having to shut down completely. One way this might be achieved is to use signal waveforms derived from naturally occurring sounds, such as the vocalisations of the animals themselves: biomimetic waveforms. It might be expected that such sounds would appear less threatening, or at least more familiar, thus reducing possible abnormal behavioural impacts. Marine mammals produce a variety of vocalisations, but this paper focuses on the echolocation clicks produced by odontocetes (toothed whales) such as sperm whales and dolphins. These wideband signals are aimed at both detecting and classifying small, low target strength objects at very long ranges – characteristics that are all desirable in man-made sonar systems.
•   Download the full paper

Contact details

• Contact person:
  Dr Peter Dobbins
• e-mail:
  
• Affiliation:
  Consultant
• Country:
  United Kingdom