Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation

Thomas C Montgomery

Linwood M Rowe, Jr

David Marschik

Thomas Kupiszewski

Frederick G Geil

Brad M Fye

Insulated cover for gallon container

A shallow water sonar apparatus and a method of processing outputs from a shallow water sonar array, where the array consists of at most two elements for receiving the acoustic energy from a plurality of directions. The apparatus also includes a beamformer for processing the acoustic energy received by the two elements to produce a tapered beam pattern which approximates a beamformer output from an array including substantially more than two elements. The tapered beam pattern is produced by asymmetrically amplitude shading outputs of the two elements, such that the output of one of the two elements is summed, without shading, with an output of the second element, shaded by a coefficient factor of 0.23.

Low cost shading for wide sonar beams

An underwater acoustic projector including a Class IV flextension shell, preferably in the form of an ellipsoid, is connected to and driven by two substantially identical electromagnets having mutually opposing pole faces and having a common spatially uniform air gap which is centered between the pole faces. The coils of the two electromagnets are connected in series and when excited by a controlled current, generate a mutually attractive variable reluctance force which causes the pole faces to be attracted toward one another. The shell secured to the electromagnets elastically flexes along one of two mutually perpendicular axes resulting in a volumetric displacement of the outer surface of the shell.

Variable reluctance actuated flextension transducer

Growing community of inventors

Easton, MD, United States of America

Thomas C Montgomery