Applied Underwater Acoustics

1.6. Sonar Equations

The sonar equations combine parameters from the sonar equipment, environment, and target to provide the basis for preliminary sonar performance evaluation. Sonar equations are particularly used for:

1. predicting an existing sonar system's performance under selected conditions, or

2. designing a sonar system to operate under desired conditions.

In the past sonar equations have been used extensively in underwater acoustics; however, they have also been abused since the sonar equations have several limitations, which must be understood to obtain reliable and useful results. Sonar equations express the conservation of acoustic energy and individual terms within the equations provide the magnitude of each term's influence on the ...