What is SONAR?
SONAR is an abbreviation for SOund Navigation And Ranging, a navigational technique which uses sound to gather information about the surrounding environment. There are two types of SONAR: active, and passive, and they are both widely used, depending on the situation. Passive SONAR involves listening for sounds, such as noises generated by passing ships and submarines. When a ship uses active SONAR, it emits a pulse of sound in one of a range of frequencies and then listens for the echo. Passive SONAR has been used for centuries. Scientists in the 1400s wrote about listening to underwater sounds through tubes. It may not have been extensively used for navigation, but it sowed the seeds for the development of active SONAR. During the First World War, several nations studied the properties of sound and developed early active SONAR to make shipping and naval warfare more safe. SONAR takes advantage of hydroacoustics, a series of properties which govern how sound moves underwater. When a sh
Sonar (SOund Navigation And Ranging) is the generic name of the technology that is used to locate objects underwater. Sonar systems are of two basic types – active and passive. In active sonar, the system emits a pulse of sound and then the operator listens for echoes. In passive sonar, the operator listens to sounds emitted by the object one is trying to locate.
