Patent ID: 8213262

Claim:
A monostatic sodar system, comprising: an array of essentially identical acoustic transducers, each transducer comprising a cone transducer element which generates and receives sound and a horn which guides the sound to and from the cone to a circular or hexagonal active region from which sound is emitted during a sound emission and into which sound is received during a reception of emitted sound that has been reflected by the atmosphere, each transducer defining a generally hexagonal perimeter shape and occupying a generally hexagonal area of the array, in which the transducers are arranged in a generally vertical plane and in a generally hexagonal grid packing arrangement defining six sides and comprising a series of rows of tightly-packed transducers, the transducers in adjacent rows offset from one another in a direction orthogonal to the row longitudinal axes by about half the width of a transducer, and with at least four transducers defining each of the six sides of the grid packing arrangement; a signal generator that generates signals that are used to drive the transducers; a phase and switching control that receives the signals from the signal generator and provides transducer drive signals to the transducers that cause the array to produce three sequential, essentially identical and symmetric generally conical beams spaced about 120° apart in azimuth, wherein for each such beam the phase and switching control operates the transducers making up a row in unison at essentially the same frequency, with the operation of sequential rows uniformly phase-shifted relative to the immediately preceding row, to tilt the beams at essentially the same altitude relative to the vertical; a receiver that receives signals from the transducers during a reception of emitted sound that has been reflected by the atmosphere; a processor that outputs atmospheric information derived from the signals from the transducers; an open-top enclosure in which the array, signal generator, phase and switching control and receiver are located, the enclosure comprising upwardly and outwardly-directed curved walls that define three flared lobes spaced 120° apart, wherein one of the beams leaves the enclosure from each of the lobes, in which each beam defines a main axis, and an about zero power null located at an angle from the beam main axis, and wherein the enclosure walls that define the lobes are located at about the locations of the nulls of the beams; and a sound reflector within the enclosure and located and arranged such that it reflects the beams from a generally horizontal orientation as they leave the array, to a generally vertical orientation as they leave the enclosure.