Introduction to sonar

Roy Edgar Hansen∗

Course materiel to IN4015 Ultrasound Imaging at University of Oslo

(Dated: September 25, 2021)

This paper gives a short introduction to underwater sound and the principle of sonar.
In addition, the paper describes the use of sonar in three different applications: fish
finding; mapping of the seafloor and imaging of the seafloor.

I. INTRODUCTION

Sonar is a technique that uses sound waves to mea-

sure distance and detect objects such as fish under wa-
ter. SONAR is the acronym for SOund Navigation And FIG. 2 A sound wave is a longitudal perturbation of pressure
Ranging. Sonar technology is similar to other technolo-
gies such as: RADAR = RAdio Detection And Ranging;
ultrasound which typically is used with higher frequen- acoustic vibrations can be characterized by the follow-
cies in medical applications; and seismics which typically ing:
uses lower frequencies to map the earths interior. • Wave period T [s]
The knowledge and understanding of underwater • Frequency f = 1/T [Hz]
sound is not new. Leonardo Da Vinci discovered in 1490 • Sound speed c [m/s]
that acoustics propagate well in the ocean: • Wavelength λ = c/f [m]
“If you cause your ship to stop and place the A small note about units. Logarithmic scale, and in
head of a long tube in the water and place particular the Decibel scale (referred to as dB), is often
the outer extremity to your ear, you will hear used in sonar literature (including this paper). The dB
ships at a great distance from you” scale is defined as
The first active sonar designed in the same way modern
IdB = 10 log10 (I) (1)
sonar is, was invented and developed as a direct conse-
quence of the loss of Titanic in 1912, where the basic
where IdB is intensity in dB and I is linear intensity.
requirement was to detect icebergs in 2 miles distance.
Hence 10 dB means a factor 10, 20 dB means a factor
Underwater sound is used both by whales and dolphins
100, 30 dB means a factor 1000 etc.
(see Fig. 1) for communication and echolocation.
The reason for using the logarithmic scale is that the
acoustic signal strength varies several orders of magni-
tude over a typical distance travelled.

B. More information

Much literature has been written about underwater

FIG. 1 Experts in underwater sound. From wikipedia.org. sound and sonar, due to the popularity of the technology
Courtesy of NASA and Zorankovacevic. and the complexity of the medium. This small review
is inspired mainly by Xavier Lurton’s excellent book An
introduction to underwater acoustics: Principles and Ap-
plications (Lurton, 2002, 2010). www.wikipedia.org has
A. Basic physics also a very detailed web page both on sonar and under-
water sound. See also (Ainslie, 2010; Burdic, 1984; Fish
Sound is pressure perturbations that travels as a wave. and Carr, 2001; Hodges, 2010; Nielsen, 1991; Urick, 1983)
Sound is also referred to as compressional waves, longi- for more details on sonar. Underwater acoustics is a field
tudal waves, and mechanical waves (see Fig. 2). The in it self as part of theoretical acoustics (Brekhovskikh
and Lysanov, 1982; Medwin and Clay, 1998; Tolstoy and
Clay, 1987). Sonar imaging and array signal processing
∗ [email protected]; www.mn.uio.no/ifi/english/people/aca/rhn/ is well covered in (Johnson and Dudgeon, 1993).
 2

f [kHz] R [km] λ [m]

0.1 1000 15
1 100 1.5
10 10 0.15
100 1 0.015
1000 0.1 0.0015

TABLE I Maximum range R for frequency f and correspond-

ing wavelength λ.

FIG. 3 One way spherical spread.

II. UNDERWATER SOUND

In this section we describe the main factors that affect

underwater acoustic propagation in the ocean: Loss and
attenuation, refraction, scattering and noise.

A. Spherical spread

The acoustic wave expands as a spherical wave in a

homogeneous medium, as shown in Fig. 3. The acoustic
intensity I decreases with range R in inverse proportion FIG. 4 Absorption coefficient in seawater.
to the surface of the sphere as
1 C. Refraction
I∼ (2)
R2
Consider a plane interface between two different media
in homogeneous media. with different sound velocity c1 and c2 . A plane incoming
For two way propagation, the acoustic wave expands acoustic wave will partly reflect where the reflection angle
as a spherical wave to the reflector. Then, the reflector is equal to the incident angle, and partly refract into the
sphreads the signal in all directions, and the reflected other medium. This is illustrated in Fig. 5. The angle of
field expands as a spherical wave back to the receiver. In refraction is given by Snell’s law
a homogeneous medium, the two way loss becomes
sin θ1 sin θ2
1 1 1 = . (4)
I∼ 2 2 = 4 (3) c1 c2
R R R
The sound velocity in the ocean can be approximated
with the following empirical formula:
B. Absorption
c = 1449.2 + 4.6T − 0.055T 2 + 0.00029T 3
(5)
Seawater is a dissipative medium through viscosity and + (1.34 − 0.010T )(S − 35) + 0.016D
chemical processes. Acoustic absorption in seawater is
frequency dependent, such that lower frequencies will
reach longer than higher frequencies.
The frequency relation to absorption is such that the
travelling distance measured in wavelengths has a fixed
absorption loss. This is summarized in Table I. Fig. 4
shows the absorption coefficient in dB per km for fre-
quencies from 100 Hz to 1 MHz for 4 different temper-
atures. The absorption coefficient is a function of tem-
perature, salinity, depth (pressure) and pH in addition
to frequency. FIG. 5 Snell’s law of refraction.
 3

FIG. 7 Raytrace of sound in an upwards refracting environ-

ment.

and the deep isothermal layer. It is known that whales

communicate over thousands of kilometers by using un-
derwater sound channels.

FIG. 6 Deep water sound velocity.

where T is temperature in degrees Celsius, S is salin-

ity in parts per thousand, and D is depth in meters.
Hence, sound velocity contains information about the
ocean environment. As an example: T = 12.5 ◦ C, S =
35 ppt, D = 100 m gives c = 1500 m/s.
The deep water sound velocity, shown in Fig. 6, can be
divided into four different regions:
• The surface layer
• The seasonal thermocline
FIG. 8 Raytrace of sound in the deep water sound channel.
• The permanent thermocline
• The deep isothermal layer
Since the sound velocity continuously changes with
depth, an acoustic ray will continuously refract into a D. Reflection
new direction. The rate at which the ray changes direc-
tion is directly proportional to the gradient of the sound Consider the interface between two different media, as
velocity (see equation (4)). shown in Fig. 5. A plane incident acoustic wave will
Fig. 7 shows four example rays with different initial partly reflect and refract at the interface (given by Snell’s
angles, in an upwards refracting sound velocity profile. law). The amplitude of the reflected and refracted wave
For constant gradient in the sound velocity, the rays be- are determined by the angle of incidence and the material
come parts of circles. Note that the aspect ratio in the properties given by the characteristic impedance
figure is not correct.
For a sound velocity profile with a local minimum, the Z0 = ρc (6)
acoustic signals may be trapped by the effect of refrac- 3
where ρ is the density [kg/m ] and c is the sound speed
tion. This causes an underwater sound channel, where
[m/s]. At normal incidence, the reflection coefficient is
in effect, the mean acoustic intensity in the sound chan-
nel no longer spreads spherically, but cylindrically. This Z − Z0
gives a spreading loss of I ∼ 1/R as opposed to I ∼ 1/R2 V = (7)
Z + Z0
for spherical spread, which again gives much longer prop-
agation range within the channel. Fig. 8 shows rays from and the transmission coefficient is
a source at 1300 m water depth. The rays are trapped in 2Z0
the sound channel formed by the permanent thermocline W = = 1 − V. (8)
Z + Z0
 4

Material Impedance
Air 415
Seawater 1.54 × 106
Clay 5.3 × 106
Sand 5.5 × 106
Sandstone 7.7 × 106
Granite 16 × 106
Steel 47 × 106

TABLE II Characteristic impedance is a material property.

Thus, by operating the sonar in a known environment

(with known Z0 ), estimating the reflection coefficient
from a plane interface to an unknown medium, the char-
acteristic impedance Z can be calculated, and thereby
the material properties determined. Table II lists the
characteristic impedance to a few different media. Note
that this description is not valid when the second medium
is absorbing or is elastic.
As an example, consider reflection from the sea sur-
face seen from beneath (as illustrated in the left panel
of Fig. 9). Using the characteristic impedance for air
Z = 415 and seawater Z0 = 1.54 × 106 , we get a reflec- FIG. 10 Upper: Sound scattering from a smooth surface.
Lower: Sound scattering from a rough surface.
tion coefficient of

Z − Z0
V = ≈ −1 (9) E. Scattering
Z + Z0

which states that the sea surface is a perfect acoustic Scattering of acoustic waves can be of two categories
reflector. in the ocean:
1. Surface scattering from the sea surface or from the
seafloor.
2. Volume scattering from ocean fluctuations, marine
life or objects.
Surface scattering from a smooth surface compared to
the acoustic wavelength (shown in the upper panel of
Fig. 10) will mainly give specular reflection.
If the surface is rough, some part of the reradiated
FIG. 9 Reflection in the sea-air interface (left) and the sea- acoustic energy will be scattered diffusely in random di-
bottom interface (right). rections, as shown in the lower panel of Fig. 10. The
more rough the surface is, the more acoustic energy will
be scattered diffusely.
Now, we consider reflection from the seafloor. A sandy
For non-normal incident waves, such that specular re-
seafloor with characteristic impedance of Z = 5.5 × 106 ,
flection cannot reach the observer, the surface has to be
the reflection coefficient becomes
rough in order to facilitate any observed scattered sig-
Z − Z0 nals. The scattered field is dependent on the roughness
V = ≈ 0.56 (10) of the surface (relative to the wavelength) and the char-
Z + Z0
acteristic impedance (or difference between media).
for normal incidence. Similarly, a hard rock on the
seafloor will have a characteristic impedance of Z =
16 × 106 (for granite), which gives a reflection coefficient F. Ocean fluctuations
of
In coastal areas and in the upper layer, random vari-
Z − Z0 ability will affect acoustic propagation. These effects (see
V = ≈ 0.82. (11) Fig. 11) are ocean turbulence, currents, internal waves
Z + Z0
 5

FIG. 12 Passive sonar.

FIG. 11 Random variability in the ocean.

(gravity waves in density variations below the sea sur-

face), the sea surface and microbubbles. Ocean acoustics
can be used to monitor and estimate these variations. FIG. 13 Active sonar.
This is called acoustical oceanograhpy.

The range to the target is then given as

III. PRINCIPLES OF SONAR
cτ
R= (12)
There are two different operational modes for sonar: 2
The sound velocity c has to be known to be able to map
1. Passive sonar, where an acoustic noise source is delay into space.
radiated by the target, and the sonar only receives
the acoustic signals (see Fig. 12).

2. Active sonar, where the sonar itself transmits an

acoustic signal, which again propagates to a reflec-
tor (or target), which again reflects the signal back
to the sonar receiver (see Fig. 13).

In the following section, we will describe the basic prin-

ciple of echo location for active sonar. We also list the
components involved in the signal processing for active
FIG. 14 Estimation of range.
sonar.
The accuracy of which the range is estimated is related
A. Range estimation to the pulse length Tp for traditional pings (or gated CW
pulses)
Range defined as the radial distance between the cTp
sonar and the reflector, can be estimated as follows (see δR = . (13)
2
Fig. 14):
• A short pulse of duration Tp is transmitted in the This is equivalent to the range resolution defined as the
direction of the reflector. minimum spacing two echoes can be seperated and still
• The receiver records the signal until the echo from detected (see Fig. 15). A shorter pulse gives better range
the reflector has arrived resolution. However, shorter pulses has less energy in
• The time delay τ is estimated from this time series the pulse, which again gives shorter propagation range.
 6

FIG. 15 Range resolution.

An alternative to this is to modulate (or phase code) the FIG. 17 Direction of arrival.
pulse. For phase coded pulses, the resolution is
c The direction of arrival (or bearing) from a reflected
δR = (14) signal or an external source, can be estimated from the
2B
time difference of arrival δt between two different re-
where B is the bandwidth (or frequency spread) of the
ceivers spaced L apart (see Fig. 17)
acoustic signal. (14) actually covers (13), since  
cδt
1 θ = sin−1 . (17)
B= (15) L
Tp
This can be calculated a number of ways:
for gated CW signals.
1. Estimating the range to the reflector (as described
above) for each receiver antenna
B. Bearing estimation
2. Direct comparison of the signals received by two
There are two key elements involved in the estimation antenna elements (by cross correlation)
of direction (or bearing) in sonar 3. Delaying each element in the array of receivers to
1. The electro-acoustic transducer and its size steer the response of the array in different direction
2. The grouping of transducers into arrays and then estimating at which direction maximum
A transducer (or antenna or loudspeaker) is directive if return is. This is known as beamforming.
the size of the antenna is large compared to the wave-
length. The directivity pattern generally contains a main For multiple antennas in the receiver array, multiple
lobe, with a beamwidth (or field of view) beams (or directions) can be calculated simultaneously
(see Fig. 18).
λ
β≈ (16)
D
where D is the diameter (or length) of the antenna. This
is shown in Fig. 16.
We note that the beamwidth is frequency dependent.
Higher frequency gives narrower beam for a given an-
tenna size. Or, conversely, higher frequency gives smaller
antenna size for a given angular spread. This is the sin-
gle most important reason to choose high frequencies in
sonar imaging.

FIG. 18 Direction of arrival from multiple reflectors.

C. Imaging sonar

The principle of imaging sonar is to estimate the re-

flectivity for all calculated ranges and in all selected di-
FIG. 16 Transducer directivity. rections. This is illustrated in Fig. 19. The field of view
 7

FIG. 19 Imaging sonar field of view and resolution. FIG. 20 Signal model.

is given by the angular width of each element. The an- about the target (or reflector) of interest. It de-
gular (or azimuth) resolution is given by the array length pends on the physical structure of the target and
measured in wavelengths. The range resolution is given its dimensions, as well as the angle of arrival and
by the bandwidth of the system. acoustic frequency.
A classical approach to forming an image is applying
the Delay-And-Sum (DAS) algorithm to the data col- Reverberation: is unwanted echoes and paths of the
lected per ping (see Listing 1). transmitted signal. This is typically caused by sur-
face and bottom scattering, and/or volume scatter-
Listing 1 Delay-And-Sum algorithm ing.
for all directions
for all ranges Additive noise: is acoustic signals from other sources
for all receivers than the sonar itself.
Calculate the time delay
Interpolate the time series The sonar equation is an equation for energy conser-
Apply amplitude factor vation for evaluation of the sonar system performace. In
end its simplest form, the equation states the following:
sum over receivers and store
in result (x , y ) Signal − N oise + Gain > T hreshold (18)
end
end where T hreshold is the value for which the signal after
improvement (gain) is above the noise level. A more
detailed version for active sonar is:

D. Signal model SL − 2T L + T S − N L + DI + P G > RT (19)

The basic signal model for an active sonar contains where SL is source level, T L is transmission loss, T S is
three main components (see Fig. 20): target strenght, N L is noise level, DI is directivity in-
dex, P G is processing gain, and RT is reception thresh-
The signal: which has propagated from the transmitter, old. Note that the sonar equation describes logarithmic
through the medium to the reflector, is backscat- intensity in dB. Fig. 21 shows the received time series (or
tered, and then propagated back to the receiver. range profile) for a single ping of data with a target of
The backscattered signal contains the information interest.
 8

FIG. 21 Example range profile.

FIG. 23 Echosounding for fish finding.

E. Signal processing

Active sonar signal processing can be divided into a nal processing).

number of different stages. With reference to Fig. 22, • Detection: Detection of potential targets (i.e. a
these are: fish, a submarine).
• Preprocessing: Filtering and applying time variable • Parameter estimation: Estimation of position and
gain (TVG). velocity of the detected object.
• Doppler correction: Estimate and correct for • Classification: Target or pattern recognition.
Doppler if needed. • Geocoding: Positioning the data in a global map.
• Pulse compression: Matched filtering in range
(maximally compress encoded pulses).
• Beamforming: Direction estimation (or matched IV. APPLICATIONS OF SONAR
filtering in azimuth). This is to convert element
data in an array into directional beams (array sig- In this section, we list three different applications of ac-
tive sonar: fish finding, mapping the seafloor, and imag-
ing the seafloor. There are also other areas where sonar
is widespread used, such as in military applications (i.e.
finding submarines) and underwater navigation.

A. Fish finding

Modern vessels for fisheries are usually well equipped

with sonar systems. The basic usage of sonar is to detect
and locate fish schools, as shown in Fig. 23. The most
basic sonar type is the downward looking echosounder for
detection and range positioning of the fish. By moving
the ship forward, a 2D scan (or slice) of the ocean is
produced. Typical frequencies used are 20 kHz to 200
kHz, where the different frequencies have different depth
rating (see Fig. 24).
Fish finders use the estimated target strength from the
backscattered signal to calculate fish size (or biomass).
A fundamental challenge in this is to control every other
term in the sonar equation, such that the target strength
can be reliably estimated. If the vessel is equipped with
echosounders at different frequencies, the difference in
target response at the different frequencies can be used
for species characterisation. Fig. 25 shows the echogram
FIG. 22 Active sonar signal processing chain. of a fish school at different frequencies.
 9

FIG. 26 Multibeam echosounder geometry.

• Along each beam (or direction), the range (calcu-

lated from the time delay) to the seafloor is esti-
mated.

• The range estimate in each beam gives the relative

depth of the seafloor relative to the vessel. This is
again transformed into a map of the seafloor along
FIG. 24 Fish detection range (vertical axis) for dif- the fan.
ferent sonars operating at different frequencies. From
www.simrad.com. Courtesy of Kongsberg Maritime. • The vessel is moving forward, and consecutive pings
gives a continuous map of the area surveyed.

• The map resolution is determined by the 2D

beamwidth and the range resolution.

Multibeam echosounders are commonly used in map-

ping of the seafloor. Typical frequencies used are from 12
kHz for large scale hull mounted systems with full ocean
depth range, to 600 kHz for short range high resolution
mapping. The swath width of a multibeam echosounder
is typically 4 to 10 times the sonar altitude (dependent
on which system).

FIG. 25 Stock abundance and species characterisation with

multifrequency echosounders. From www.simrad.com. Cour-
tesy of Kongsberg Maritime.

B. Seafloor mapping with multibeam echosounders

The principle of mapping the seafloor with multibeam

echosounders is as follows (see Fig. 26):

• The multibeam echosounder forms a large number FIG. 27 Map of the Ormen Lange field produced by multi-
of beams for each ping. The beams are in different beam echosounder. Courtesy of Geoconsult / Norsk Hydro.
direction, spanning a fan cross-track of the vessel. .
 10

FIG. 30 Area coverage and resolution in sidescan sonar.

Fig. 30. The cross-track coverage is given by the maxi-

mum range of the system, which again is related to pulse
FIG. 28 Example map of sand ripples. Data collected by repitition interval and the maximum range of the acous-
HUGIN AUV. Courtesy of Kongsberg Maritime / FFI. tic signals (from absorption). The cross-track resolution
. is the range resolution, given by the pulse length (or the
bandwidth for coded pulses). The along-track coverage is
given by the pulse repitition interval. Finally, the along-
Fig. 27 shows an example map produced from data
track resolution is given by the directivity of the sonar
collected with a multibeam echosounder on the HUGIN
antenna and the range.
AUV. The ridge in the map is 900 m long and 50 m high.
Fig. 28 shows sand ripples on the seafloor mapped with
a multibeam echosounder. D. Synthetic aperture sonar

A fundamental limitation to traditional sidescan sonar

C. Sonar imaging with sidescan sonar is the spatial resolution along-track (or azimuth). At far
ranges, it is usually much worse than the range (or cross-
track) resolution. The angular resolution is given by the
array length measured in wavelengths. By decreasing the
wavelength (or increasing the frequency), the angular res-
olution is improved. This, however, limits the practical
range, due to the frequency dependent absorption is sea-
water. The other approach is to increase the length of the
FIG. 29 Sidescan sonar geometry. array. This, however, requires more hardware, more elec-
tronics and more space on the vehicle. Another approach
is to synthesize a larger array by using consecutive pings
Sidescan sonar is used to produce acoustic images from the moving sonar. This is the principle of synthetic
of the seafloor with high resolution. The sonar geom- aperture sonar (SAS) as illustrated in Fig. 31.
etry is sidelooking (hence the name) as illustrated in
Fig. 29. The principle is based on forming an acous-
tic image by moving the sonar forward and stacking the
sonar response from succesive pings (see Fig. 30). The
sidescan sonar works best when operated fairly close to
the seafloor, typically mounted on a towfish (a towed
lightweight vehicle), or an autonomous underwater vehi-
cle (AUV) (as illustrated here). It can also be mounted
on a surface ship hull when operated in shallow waters.
The operational frequencies for sidescan sonars are typ-
ically from 100 kHz to 1 MHz, with a opertational range
from 500 m down to a few tens of metres. A common de-
sign in sidescan sonar is to choose the highest possible fre-
quency for a given range (from calculations of absorpion)
to obtain the best possible along-track resolution.
The area covered by a sidescan sonar is shown in FIG. 31 Principle of synthetic aperture sonar.
 11

lower frequency, the image contains much more detail

and fidelity, making it easier to determine the contents
of the image. More details about SAS can be found in
(Hansen, 2011).

V. SUMMARY

Underwater acoustics is the only information carrier

that can transport information over large distances in
the ocean. The acoustic waves are affected by sound
velocity variations with depth which cause refraction of
FIG. 32 Along-track resolution in synthetic aperture sonar. the acoustic energy. The ocean is a lossy medium for
acoustics. An acoustic wave can travel a fixed number
of wavelengths, such that lower frequencies have longer
By choosing the synthetic array (or aperture) to the
range. The sonar principle is to locate an object by es-
maximum length given by the field of view for each phys-
timating the acoustic travel time and direction of arrival
ical element (see Fig. 32), the spatial along-track resolu-
between sensor and object. Sonar imaging is estimation
tion becomes independent of both range and frequency.
of backscattered acoustic energy in all directions and for
Sidescan sonar and SAS imagery is used for detailed
all ranges. Typical sonar applications are: fish finding,
documentation of the seafloor. The properties and prac-
imaging and mapping of the seafloor, military and navi-
tical application of a sonar image, depicted in Fig. 33,
gation.
is related to a number of factors: the imaging geome-
try will cause acoustic shadows from elevated objects on
the seafloor; the image resolution and fidelity (signal to
noise) is related to the ability to detect and resolve small REFERENCES
objects; the water-seafloor interface and its relation to
the acoustic frequency will affect the reflectivity for dif- Ainslie, M. A., 2010, Principles of Sonar Performance Mod-
ferent bottom types. eling (Springer Praxis Publishing).
Brekhovskikh, L., and Y. Lysanov, 1982, Fundamentals of
Ocean Acoustics (Springer-Verlag).
Burdic, W. S., 1984, Underwater acoustic system analysis
(Prentice Hall).
Fish, J. P., and H. A. Carr, 2001, Sound reflections: Advanced
Applications of Side Scan Sonar (LowerCape Publishing).
Hansen, R. E., 2011, in Sonar Systems, edited by N. Z.
Kolev (Intech), chapter 1, pp. 3–28, URL http://www.
intechopen.com/books/sonar-systems.
Hodges, R. P., 2010, Underwater Acoustics: Analysis, Design
and Performance of Sonar (John Wiley & Sons).
Johnson, D. H., and D. E. Dudgeon, 1993, Array Signal Pro-
cessing: Concepts and Techniques (Prentice Hall).
Lurton, X., 2002, An Introduction to Underwater Acoustics:
Principles and Applications (Springer Praxis Publishing,
London, UK), first edition.
FIG. 33 Properties in a sonar image. Lurton, X., 2010, An Introduction to Underwater Acoustics:
Principles and Applications (Springer Praxis Publishing,
Existing SAS systems achieve more than one order of London, UK), second edition.
magnitude improvement in along-track resolution com- Medwin, H., and C. S. Clay, 1998, Fundamentals of Acoustical
Oceanography (Academic Press, Boston).
pared to similar sidescan sonar systems at long ranges.
Nielsen, R. O., 1991, Sonar signal processing (Artech House).
Fig. 34 shows a SAS image compared with a sidescan Tolstoy, I., and C. S. Clay, 1987, Ocean Acoustics: Theory and
sonar image. The object in the sonar images is a WWII Experiment in Underwater Sound (The American Institute
submarine wreck at 200 m water depth outside Horten, of Physics for the Acoustical Society of America).
Norway. Note the difference in resolution. Even though Urick, R. J., 1983, Principles of Underwater Sound (Mcgraw-
the SAS data is collected at longer range, and at much Hill Book Company).
 12

FIG. 34 Comparison of traditional sidescan sonar with synthetic aperture sonar. Images collected by HUGIN AUV. Courtesy
of Kongsberg Maritime / FFI.