Feasibility Study of Airborne Bathymetric Sensing Using the Co2 Laser/Acoustic Technique (Brighton Dam Test Results).
Abstract
A feasibility experiment was performed on a concept for a remote system for bathymetric mapping in turbid shallow waters. The concept consists of a CO2 laser transmitter and a microphone receiver. The CO2 laser is used from a platform in the air to generate an acoustic field in the water, while the microphone (in air) detects the sound pulses, after being reflected off the bottom sediment. The results of these experiments definitively proved that the CO2 laser/acoustic technique could be used to derive bathymetric data using a microphone located in the air. The possibility therefore exists that this technique could be used as the basis for a remote sensing system for shallow water bathymetry. Similar type measurements were also made of acoustic reflections from an aluminum plate located at various water depths. Calculations of the Sound Pressure Levels (SPL) are in good agreement with SPL's measured with a hydrophone in the water. However, large discrepancies exist between measured and calculated SPL's with the air-located microphone. The resolution of these discrepancies, which are thought to be due to a malfunction of the microphone, will be one of the objectives of future experiments. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1980
- Accession Number
- ADA094694
Entities
People
- B. S. Maccabee
- C. E. Bell
- G. Daniel Hickman