Steerable acoustic resonating transducer systems and methods

Abstract

The present disclosure provides systems and methods associated with acoustic transmitters, receivers, and antennas. Specifically, the present disclosure provides a transducer system for transmitting and receiving acoustic energy according to a determined acoustic emission/reception pattern. In various embodiments, an acoustic transducer system may include an array of sub-wavelength transducer elements each configured with an electromagnetic resonance at one of a plurality of electromagnetic frequencies. Each sub-wavelength transducer element may generate an acoustic emission in response to the electromagnetic resonance. A beam-forming controller may cause electromagnetic energy to be transmitted at select electromagnetic frequencies to cause a select subset of the sub-wavelength transducer elements to generate acoustic emissions according to a selectable acoustic transmission pattern. A common port may facilitate electromagnetic communication with each of the sub-wavelength transducer elements.