Passive underwater acoustic identification tags using multi-layered shells
Abstract
The development of pre-deployed underwater infrastructures to aid in autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) navigation is of keen interest, with the increased use of AUVs for undersea operations. Previous literature has introduced a class of passive underwater acoustic markers, termed acoustic identification (AID) tags [Satish, Trivett, and Sabra, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 147(6), EL517–EL522 (2020)], which are inexpensive to construct, simple to deploy, and reflect unique engineered acoustic signatures that can be detected by an AUV instrumented with high-frequency sonar systems. An AID tag is built of multi-layer shells with different acoustic properties and thicknesses to generate a unique acoustic signature, composed of the multiple reflections created by the layer interfaces, thus akin to an “acoustic barcode.” AID tags can be used as geospatial markers to highlight checkpoints in AUV trajectories or mark areas of interest underwater. This article investigates the optimization of the AID tag's design using energy based metrics and evaluates the detectability of an AID tag in the presence of interfering signals, such as clutter using matched-filter based techniques. Furthermore, experimental results of AID tags interrogated by a standard high-frequency sonar are presented to provide proof of concept of AID tag detection in a reverberant water tank.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2021
- Source ID
- 10.1121/10.0004990
Entities
People
- Aprameya Satish
- Karim G. Sabra
Organizations
- Georgia Tech
- Office of Naval Research