Abstract:
An underwater acoustic sensor is designed for attachment to a rigid or semi-rigid mounting structure. The sensor includes an outer casing and a secondary casing spaced therefrom. A compliance layer is disposed between the inner surface of the outer casing and the outer surface of the secondary casing. An inner sensor support is designed to attach to the mounting structure and is spaced from the inner surface of the secondary casing. A plurality of sensor elements are disposed between and interconnect the inner surface of the secondary casing and the sensor support.

Description:
REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
   This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/630,676, filed Nov. 23, 2004, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference. 

   STATEMENT OF GOVERNMENT INTEREST 
   The invention described herein was made with Government support under Contract No. N00014-03-1-0863 awarded by the Office of Naval Research. The United States Governmental has certain rights in this invention. 

   FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention relates generally to underwater acoustic sensors. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Conventional underwater probes are suspended in a body of water, carried onboard a vessel, or are allowed to rest upon the floor of a body of water. The measurements that these probes provide can be used to determine the nature of noise emission from underwater sources such as those generated from natural (weather, geological, or biologically-related) or man-made processes. For instance, the probes can be used to detect distant vessels, perform seismic surveys, monitor ambient noise in the sea, aid in fish localization, or aid in fossil fuel exploration. Such probes can also be used to assess the effectiveness and directionality of radiation from underwater sources. 
   An acoustic intensity measurement provides an indication of the vector energy flux density of an acoustic field. Acoustic intensity is the product of acoustic particle velocity, {right arrow over (u)}, and acoustic pressure, p. There are two primary probe design types known in the art for measuring underwater acoustic intensity: pressure-gradient probes and inertial probes. 
   The most commonly used design is the pressure-gradient probe. Such a probe is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,375. This probe consists of two hydrophones fixed a distance Δr apart. One key advantage of this design type is that the hydrophones can be rigidly fixed in space (motion is not central to sensing). The sum of the outputs provides a direct measurement of the acoustic pressure at the midpoint of the hydrophones. Although the acoustic velocity is not directly measured using this technique, it can be determined using a finite-difference approximation to the velocity, given as: 
             u   r     ≈     j   ⁢       Δ   ⁢           ⁢   p       ω   ⁢           ⁢   ρΔ   ⁢           ⁢   r               
where u r  is the acoustic velocity; Δp is the difference between the hydrophone outputs; ρ is the density of water; and ω is the radian frequency. The acoustic intensity is then determined as the time-averaged product of the acoustic pressure and velocity.
 
   The pressure-gradient probe has several inherent disadvantages. The derived velocity is a function of frequency, and therefore, each spectral component to be studied must be weighted differently to compensate for the frequency dependence. The distance the hydrophones are set apart can cause inaccurate measurements. Setting the hydrophones too closely together greatly decreases the dynamic range of the probe. Setting the hydrophones too far apart can result in the inaccurate measurement of acoustic fields which depart from perfect plane wave behavior. 
   A second design type which is rapidly gaining popularity in the art is the inertial probe design. The output of an inertial probe is directly related to the motion of the probe body. Two such probes are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,392,258 and 6,172,940. The probe of U.S. Pat. No. 5,392,258 measures the acoustic particle velocity directly from the output of a geophone encased in a neutrally buoyant syntactic foam cylindrical body. The probe is suspended such that motion in directions other than the primary sensing direction of the geophone is suppressed. Pressure hydrophones, attached to the end caps of the cylinder, are spatially averaged to yield acoustic pressure. The product of the averaged hydrophone output and the velocity sensor output is directly proportional to the acoustic intensity. U.S. Pat. No. 6,172,940 combines the inertial probe design above with the gradient technique. Two geophones are encased in independent, neutrally buoyant bodies and set a fixed distance, Δr, apart. The average of the two geophone signals gives a signal proportional to the particle velocity at the midpoint of the line separating the two geophones. In this case, the acoustic pressure is not directly measured, but again it can then be determined using the measured geophone output signals. 
   Other inertial-type probes which claim to directly measure underwater acoustic intensity are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,311,873 and 2,582,994. The probe of U.S. Pat. No. 3,311,873 directly measures both acoustic pressure and acoustic acceleration electrically integrated to determine velocity. The probe of U.S. Pat. No. 2,582,994 is an air-tight, rigid, metal sphere encapsulating an acoustic velocity sensor. While both of these probes may potentially measure acoustic intensity, the probe of U.S. Pat. No. 3,311,873 disregards the inertial effects of water which seriously impedes the motion of the sensor to an acoustic force and the probe of U.S. Pat. No. 2,582,994 is extremely large and perturbs the acoustic field to a significant degree, causing scattering of wave motion. 
   In any embodiment of an inertial probe design, suspension design is critical, since the signal output is proportional to the motion of the probe body. Fundamentally, the suspension must fix the time-averaged position of the probe while permitting movement of the sensor body with the acoustic force. It should have a natural frequency well below the intended range of operation. Finally, it must not distort the probe response in magnitude or phase. For single-dimension probes, as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,392,258 and 6,172,940, suspension designs are straightforward. Two-dimensional probes are much more common in underwater acoustics. In this case, probe motion can be restricted to be planar with the third axis used as a support axis. The navy class Directional Frequency Analysis and Recording (DIFAR) sonobouy does this by supporting the probe vertically in the water column from a taut cable connected to a surface float package, allowing unconstrained motion in the sensing plane (a plane normal to the suspension cable and parallel to the water surface). 
   Designs sensitive in three-dimensions are difficult to build without significantly affecting the probe&#39;s response. U.S. Pat. No. 6,370,084 describes a three-axis inertial type probe encased in a viscoelastic rubber which serves as the suspension. However, special care must be exercised in the design of the shear stiffness of such a suspension. If the design relies on shear stiffness to control the suspension resonance, the mount must be designed to avoid any axis being constrained by compression of the material since the compressional modulus is normally much higher. With such a system, it is extremely difficult to avoid considerable anisotropy in the suspension. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   Preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a probe for measuring underwater sounds with a suspension method for a neutrally buoyant inertial probe used to directly measure true underwater acoustic intensity which is a vector quantity. These embodiments allow for the measurement of the vector components of the underwater intensity generated by some source of interest with a single, self-contained probe that is rigidly mounted to an external support structure. 
   In contrast with the probes of the prior art, a neutrally buoyant probe according to preferred embodiments of the present invention directly measure both acoustic velocity and pressure. More importantly, the some embodiments of the invention provide a probe whose dynamics are such that motion of a central support rod is essentially zero in the frequency band of interest. Consequently, the rod can be rigidly mounted to an existing support structure with no effect on the probe&#39;s response to acoustic excitation. The probe provides for a true acoustic intensity measurement of greater accuracy, in all types of acoustic fields, at higher frequencies than allowed by prior probe designs. The probe body also can be made more compact than that of the prior art, thereby reducing the scattering effect of the body of the probe at those frequencies. Further, the invention design preferably provides an underwater probe which accurately measures acoustic intensity at frequencies above 20 kHz with a sensitivity to acoustic pressure fluctuations as small as 25 dB re 1 μPa (approx. Sea-state Zero). 
   According to one embodiment of the present invention, an underwater acoustic sensor is provided for attachment to a rigid or semi-rigid mounting structure. The sensor includes a generally rigid outer casing having an inner surface and an outer surface. A generally rigid secondary casing is spaced from the outer casing and has an inner surface and an outer surface. A compliance layer is disposed between the inner surface of the outer casing and the outer surface of the secondary casing. An inner sensor support is configured for attachment to the mounting structure. The sensor support is spaced from the inner surface of the secondary casing. A plurality of sensor elements are disposed between and interconnect the inner surface of the secondary casing and the sensor support. In some versions, the sensor elements are piezoelectric elements and some may be poled to sense shear and some may be poled to sense compression or tension. In some versions, the sensor elements comprise a system of independent pairs or groups of piezoelectric elements operable to provide a signal proportional to the three independent orthogonal components of acoustic particle velocity due to the motion of the outer casing. 
   The sensor element has a useful frequency range and the resonance frequency of the outer casing, compliant layer and secondary casing is preferably lower than the useful frequency range. In further versions, the outer casing and the secondary casing are cylindrical, rectangular or spherical, and the sensor support may have a generally rectangular outer surface. The compliance layer may be a layer of compliant material, such as silicon rubber. 
   In yet further versions, the outer casing is neutrally buoyant. The outer casing may include a generally rigid inner portion and a generally rigid foam covering at least a part of the inner portion. The sensor may also include a pressure sensor disposed on the outer surface of the outer casing. The outer casing may be generally cylindrical with a pair of opposed end faces with a pressure sensor disposed on each of the opposed end faces. As yet a further alternative, the outer casing may be at least partially formed of a piezoelectric material such that it is operable as a pressure sensor. The sensor may also include circuitry for processing signals from the sensor elements. The sensor support may be the outer surface of the rigid or semi-rigid mounting structure. 
   According to another embodiment of the present invention, an underwater acoustic sensor designed for attachment to a rigid or semi-rigid mounting structure includes a generally rigid outer casing having an inner surface and an outer surface. A generally rigid secondary casing is spaced from the outer casing and has an inner surface and an outer surface. A plurality of sensor elements are disposed between and interconnect the inner surface of the outer casing and the outer surface of the secondary casing. An inner sensor support is configured for attachment to the mounting structure and is spaced from the inner surface of the secondary casing. A compliance layer is disposed between the inner surface of the secondary casing and the sensor support. In some versions, the combination of the outer casing, the inner casing and the sensor elements is neutrally buoyant. A pressure sensor may be disposed on the outer surface of the outer casing. Alternatively, the outer casing may be at least partially formed of a piezoelectric material such that it is operable as a pressure sensor. 
   According to yet another embodiment of the present invention, an underwater sensor array includes a mounting structure having an outer surface and a plurality of underwater sensors disposed on the mounting structure. Each sensor includes a generally rigid outer casing having an inner surface and an outer surface. A generally rigid secondary casing is spaced from the outer surface and has an inner surface and an outer surface. A compliance layer is disposed between the inner surface of the outer casing and the outer surface of the secondary casing. A plurality of sensor elements are disposed between and interconnect the inner surface of the secondary casing and the outer surface of the mounting structure. 
   Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a partial cut-away view of a first embodiment of an underwater probe according to the invention; 
       FIG. 2  is a cross sectional view of a version of the probe of  FIG. 1  that functions as an underwater hybrid probe; 
       FIG. 3  is a partial cut-away view of a second embodiment of an underwater probe according to the invention; 
       FIG. 4  is a cross sectional view of a version of the probe of  FIG. 3  that functions as an underwater hybrid probe;; 
       FIG. 5  is a partial cut-away view of a third embodiment of an underwater probe according to the invention; 
       FIG. 6  is another partial cut-away view of the third embodiment of an underwater probe according to the invention; 
       FIG. 7  is a partial cut-away view of a fourth embodiment of an underwater probe according to the invention; and 
       FIG. 8  is a cross sectional view of a version of the probe of  FIG. 7  that functions as an underwater hybrid probe. 
   

   DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   A probe  10  for use underwater to measure true acoustic intensity is shown generally in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . The outer casing of probe  10  is preferably made neutrally buoyant, such that wave vibrations affect the probe casing  14  just as they would affect the water which probe  10  displaces. Probe casing  14  may include a syntactic foam casting  12 . The cured foam can be used, trimmed or weighted to achieve neutral buoyancy, as needed. While it is preferred that the outer casing be made neutrally buoyant, embodiments of the present invention may be made without a neutrally buoyant outer casing. A compliance layer  16  separates the probe outer casing  14  from a “coupling-mass” or secondary casing  18 . The compliance layer may take a variety of forms, and in this embodiment is a thin layer of compliant rubber, such as a silicon rubber. A plurality of sensor elements  20  and  22  are disposed between the inner surface of the “coupling-mass” or secondary casing  18  and a central mounting structure or support  24 . In this embodiment, the sensor elements are small piezoelectric wafers  20  and  22  mounted between the “coupling-mass” or secondary casing  18  and the support  24 . The probe or sensor  10  is designed to be mounted to a rigid or semi rigid mounting structure such as support  24 . The outer surface of the support  24  or the entire support  24  may be considered an inner sensor support, or a different sensor support may be provided. 
   In the embodiment of  FIGS. 1 and 2 , casting  12  is a rigid syntactic foam material having a density less than that of water and strong enough to withstand high hydrostatic pressure. An appropriate amount of foam is used to allow the casting  12  and the and the rest of the probe casing  14  to have the same mass as the volume of water displaced by the entire probe  10 . The cured foam can be trimmed or weighted to achieve neutral buoyancy. 
   Acoustic pressures act to displace the casting  12  and the remainder of the probe casing  14  with the same magnitude and phase of the acoustic particle displacement. Motion of the probe casing  14  results in spring-like forces in the compliant rubber  16  which are directly applied to the “coupling-mass” or secondary casing  18 . The forces generated at the casing  18  are imparted to the piezoelectric elements  20  and  22 . The piezoelectric sensors  20  and  22  are preferably smaller than the inner surface of the secondary casing  18 . Effectively, the entire acoustic pressure exerted on the casting  12  and probe casing  14  are coupled into the smaller area of the piezoelectric elements  20  for frequencies much higher than the resonance exhibited by the compliant rubber layer  16 , the probe casing  14 , and the “coupling-mass” or secondary casing  18 . In this embodiment, piezoelectric elements  20  are poled in a 3-3 mode, while the elements  22  are poled in a 1-5 mode for a response to shear. The electrical signal generated by the piezoelectric elements  20  and  22  correspond to the magnitude and frequency of the sensed vibration. This voltage output is directly proportional to the neutrally buoyant probe casing&#39;s velocity which, in turn, is substantially the same as that of the surrounding water. 
   One novel feature of this invention is the suspension method used to fix the time-average location of the probe. Inertial-type probes of the prior art typically involve suspensions of the outer casing which must be allowed to move in concert with the acoustic wave vibrations. Generally, any suspension system will limit the response of at least one degree of freedom, if not more. However, the invention treats this probe as a pair of coupled masses, comprising the outer casing  14  and the “coupling-mass” casing  18 , with the outer casing  14  mass being negligible due to the buoyancy corrections made by the syntactic foam  12 . It can then easily be shown that above the resonance frequency of the combined system of the compliant layer  16 , the probe casing  14 , and the inner casing  18 , there is essentially no motion of the inner casing  18 . The present invention can exploit this fact by rigidly mounting the probe by the central support  24 . This fixes the time-average location of the probe while having in essence no effect on the probe&#39;s response. 
   Since the neutrally buoyant outer casing moves in concert with the acoustically induced motion of water, the probe can be made small relative to the wavelength of the acoustic field. While the overall package of the intensity probe can be made much smaller than that of a prior art inertial-type probes, the non-zero length of the probe still introduces an error in the velocity measurement. It is probably not practical to make the probe smaller than about 1.5 cm, but this would still permit operation up to 25,000 Hz before acoustic scattering becomes significant. 
   In one embodiment of the invention, the syntactic foam casting  12  is a mixture of epoxy resin and glass microballoons. As shown in  FIG. 2 , the assembly of rectangular components is centered within a rectangular-shaped casting  12 . Pressure sensors  28  and  30  are mounted on the edge of the casting  12 , a portion of each pressure sensor  28  and  30  being directly exposed to the surrounded water and the small gap  32  is sealed with a compliant, waterproof material. Pressure hydrophones  28  and  30  can be cast into the end faces of the outer casing  14 , or cemented on casting  12  after the foam has cured. An air-backed piezoceramic bender disk is an example of the type of hydrophone which can be used in probe  10 . 
   In use, the probe  10  can be directly mounted to an external support structure via the central support rod  24  at a desired elevational measurement point and oriented in a desired measurement direction. Voltage outputs from the piezoelectric elements  20  are directly proportional to acoustic particle velocity in the plane normal to the support rod  24  while the voltage output from the piezoelectric elements  22  is proportional to the acoustic particle velocity in the direction parallel to the support rod  24 . Alternatively, the voltage outputs from the pressure sensors  28  and  30  can be used to approximate the acoustic particle velocity in the direction parallel to the support rod  24  according to the equations given above. Combinations of the various signal output of the probe by those skilled in the art yield accurate measurements of the complete vector field of the acoustic intensity. This embodiment provides a probe which is compact, light in weight, easy to handle out of water, and adapts well to a variety of support structures. Also, multiple units could be combined along the same support rod  24  to create an array of probes  10 . Additionally, the potentially small size can greatly reduce the effect of acoustic field scattering. 
   A second embodiment is shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 , in which the probe  10  consists of a plurality of cylindrical layers, rather than square-shaped as indicated in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . This embodiment is constructed in a similar manner and exhibits roughly the same properties as the first embodiment. The same reference numbers are used for corresponding elements. The outer casing  14  can be more easily adapted to an acoustic pressure means by simply using a piezoelectric cylinder of appropriate dimensions. Also, the cylindrical profile further reduces acoustic scattering of the field. 
   A third embodiment is shown in  FIGS. 5 and 6 , in which the probe  11  consists of a plurality of spherical layers, rather than cylindrical as describe above. In this embodiment, the foam casing  13  encloses a thin walled piezoelectric sphere  15 . This in turn encloses a thin layer of compliant rubber  17  and a smaller “coupling-mass” sphere  19  to which are bonded a plurality of six small piezoelectric wafers  21  and a central rigid sphere-rod assembly  25 . The piezoelectric wafers  21  are positioned in pairs along orthogonal Cartesian axes such that the average location of the pairs is co-located at the center of the probe  11 . The rigid sphere-and-rod support  25  is oriented such that it emerges from the probe  11  at an angle of forty-five degrees with respect to the axes established by the piezoelectric element  21  pairs so as not to interfere with location of the piezoelectric elements  21 . 
   Signals incident on probe  11  will cause motion of the casting  13  and piezoelectric shell or casing  15 . The acoustic pressure of the incident wave is directly measured by the piezoelectric shell  15 . The acoustic forces on the sphere are coupled into the piezoelectric elements  21  identically as described in the first embodiment. However, in this third embodiment, the outer casing  15  is free to move in three-dimensions, i.e. there is no restriction on its motion due to the support provided by the central sphere-and-rod support  25 . The piezoelectric elements  25  are electrically connected in pairs such that each pair outputs a voltage proportional to the acoustic particle acceleration in the direction along the separation vector between them, but produces no output for compressional forces on the element pairs. Thus, the probe  11  directly measures the acoustic pressure and the acoustic particle acceleration in three orthogonal directions. A pressure signal from sensor  15  and the appropriate velocity signal from piezoelectric elements  21  are combined to provide the true acoustic intensity. 
   Further, a fourth embodiment of the probe  50  is shown in  FIGS. 7 and 8 , in which the compliant layer  58  and the piezoelectric elements  60  and  62  are reversed as compared to the previously noted embodiments. In this embodiment, neutral buoyancy requires the displaced water mass to be equal to the combined mass of the casting  52 , the outer casing  54 , the “coupler mass” casing  56  and the elements  60  and  62 , in order that rigidly mounting the center support has no effect on the sensor response. Other details are consistent with previously detailed embodiment descriptions noted above, for example 1-5 shear piezoelectric elements  62  may be removed and two hydrophones  68  and  70  may be used to approximate the velocity parallel to the central support. Any gaps  72  should be sealed with a highly compliant material. The voltage output of the piezoelectric elements  60  and  62  are directly proportional to the three dimensional acoustic particle acceleration, rather than particle velocity. The output voltage signals can be electrically corrected to be proportional to the particle velocity and then combined with the acoustic pressure signal to compute acoustic intensity of the field. In this configuration, the probe has a slightly higher response to acoustic excitation as compared to above the detailed embodiments. 
   Various modifications can be made to the embodiments described herein. For example, the use of syntactic foam is required solely for balancing buoyant forces on the probe and may or may not be necessary in some embodiments of a probe. Any rigid material is suitable as a casting or housing around the velocity sensor provided the density of the sensor is the same as the fluid in which measurements are to be made. Alternatively, the sensor can be made more or less dense than the fluid it displaces, and a sensor transfer function can be determined and taken into account in acoustic intensity calculations. This can be accomplished by calibrating the output of the sensor to a known acoustic velocity field, such as a plane progressive wave. Also, probe  10 ,  11  or  50  can produce pressure and velocity signals to be recorded separately for later processing. Alternatively, simple electronic circuitry (not shown) could be cast into castings  12 ,  13  or  52 , or contained within the rigid support rod  24 ,  25  or  64 , so that acoustic intensity can be calculated within probe  10 ,  11  or  50 . Another alternative is to connect the signal output leads to an external device (i.e. digital signal analyzer) to calculate acoustic intensity. 
   As will be clear to those of skill in the art, other modifications may also be made. As mentioned previously, the layer of compliant material in the described embodiments may be replaced with other compliance layers. The illustrated layer of compliant silicon rubber is continuous and completely encases the secondary casing or inner support. Alternatively, there can be gaps in the layer, or springs or other compliance elements may be used to form the compliance layer. When silicon rubber is used, it is preferred that it be highly compliant, especially in comparison to the generally rigid outer and secondary casings. In some embodiments, the compliant material has a Shore A hardness less than 50, while other embodiments have a hardness less than 30, and still other have a compliance less than 20. One version has a hardness of approximately 10. As will be clear to those of skill in the art, a similar effective compliance may be obtained with harder materials if voids are provided, or through other approaches. In some embodiments, the compliance layer has a thickness of 2-4 millimeters, though thicker and thinner layers could be used. The outer and secondary casings may be formed of various materials, with some versions being made of aluminum. Outer casings made of piezoelectric material are another possibility, as discussed above. The piezoelectric elements may take a variety of forms, such as being peizoceramic. 
   Many other modifications and variations of the invention are possible in view of the above disclosure. It is therefore to be understood that the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described, without departing from the scope or teaching of this invention.