Miniaturized scan within a pulse sonar

Claim 2

In a scanning sonar the improvement comprising: a line array of N listening transducer elements, each listening element being capable of receiving an acoustic signal and outputting a corresponding electrical signal; a plurality of beamformers, each beamformer having an input and an output, the input of each beamformer receiving the outputs of the listening elements; and switch means interconnected between the listening elements and the beamformers for alternately switching the outputs of the listening elements to each beamformer between two modes, one mode being a predetermined order and the other mode being an inversion of said predetermined order.

Claim 3

An improvement as claimed in claim 1 wherein at least some of the beamformers includes: a sine differential amplifier and a cosine differential amplifier, each differential amplifier having a positive input, a negative input, and an output; N/2 input leads connected between the switch means and each respective input of each differential amplifier; a resistor interconnected in each input lead and having a resistance in relationship to the resistors in the other input leads to establish the width and direction of the beam of each respective beamformer; each differential amplifier input lead being capable of receiving the input from one or the other of a pair of preselected listening elements depending upon the particular mode of the switch means; an adder having an input and an output; and the outputs of each differential amplifier being connected to the input of said adder.

Claim 4

An improvement as claimed in claim 2 including: an integrator connected between the switch means and the resistor in each input lead to said sine differential amplifier.

Claim 5

An improvement as claimed in claim 3 including: a commutator which has an input and an output; the output of each beamformer being connected to the input of the commutator; clocking means connected to the commutator for scanning all of the beamformers each time the switch means switches from one mode to the other mode.

Claim 6

An improvement as claimed in claim 4 including: a CRT display; a detector connected between the output of the commutator and the CRT display; the clocking means also including means for synchronizing the sweep of the CRT display with the scan of the commutator.

Claim 7

A miniaturized scan within a pulse sonar comprising: a line array of N listening transducer elements, each listening element being capable of receiving an acoustic signal and outputting a corresponding electrical signal; a plurality of beamformers, each beamformer having an input and an output, the input of each beamformer receiving the output from each listening element; switch means interconnected between the listening elements and the beamformers for alternately switching the outputs of the listening elements to each beamformer between two modes, one mode being a predetermined order and the other mode being an inversion of said predetermined order; display means; commutator means receiving the output of each beamformer and connected to the display means; and projector means for transmitting a sound pulse; synchronization and clocking means connected to the commutator, display means and projector means for activating the projector means to transmit a sound pulse, and then activating the commutator means and display means in synchronization to scan the outputs of the beamformers and present the result on the display means.

Claim 8

A miniaturized scan within a pulse sonar comprising: a line array of N listening transducer elements, each listening element being capable of receiving an acoustic signal and outputting a corresponding electrical signal; a plurality of beamformers, each beamformer having an input and an output, the input of each beamformer receiving the output from each listening element; switch means interconnected between the listening elements and the beamformers for alternately switching the outputs of the listening elements to each beamformer between two modes, one mode being a predetermined order and the other mode being an inversion of said predetermined order; display means; commutator means receiving the output of each beamformer and connected to the display means; and projector means for transmitting a sound pulse; synchronization and clocking means connected to the commutator, display means and projector means for activating the projector means to transmit a sound pulse, and then activating the commutator means and display means in synchronization to scan the outputs of the beamformers and present the result on the display means.

Claim 9

A sonar as claimed in claim 6 including: a sine differential amplifier and a cosine differential amplifier, each differential amplifier having a positive input, a negative input, and an output; N/2 input leads connected between the switch means and each respective input of each differential amplifier; a resistor interconnected in each input lead and having a resistance in relationship to the resistors in the other input leads to establish the width and direction of the beam of each respective beamformer; each differential amplifier input lead being capable of receiving the input from one or the other of a pair of preselected listening elements depending upon the particular mode of the switch means; an adder having an input and an output; and the outputs of each differential amplifier being connected to the input of said adder.

Claim 10

A sonar as claimed in claim 7 including: an integrator connected between the switch means and the resistor in each input lead to said sine differential amplifier.

Claim 11

A sonar as claimed in claim 8 including: a preamplifier connected between each listening element and the switch means; time varying gain means connected between each preamplifier and the clocking and synchronization means; and the clocking and synchronization means activating the time varying gain means in synchronization with the scan of said beamformers.