Unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) are gradually becoming the key to underwater combat systems, and sonar is of great importance to underwater combat systems.
As the number of unmanned underwater vehicles increases, so does the need for payloads and detection sonars.
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An overview of the military sonar industry
Sonar is a key tool for the acquisition, transmission and fusion of underwater information.
Sonar is a general term for electronic equipment that uses the propagation and reflection characteristics of sound waves under water to realize underwater distance measurement, detection and communication tasks through electro-acoustic conversion and information processing technology.
There are various classifications of sonar, which can be mainly divided into active sonar and passive sonar.
Active sonar emits sound waves and receives echoes, and by processing these echo information, it is possible to accurately determine the target's position (including bearing and distance), as well as the speed and direction of the target's movement. This sonar type is especially effective for detecting covert submarines with their engines turned off.
Instead of relying on instruments to actively emit sound waves, passive sonar uses the receiving transducer base array to passively capture the radiated noise or signals emitted by the target, thereby determining the location of the target.
Sonar as a probe:
UAVs are equipped with a wide variety of detection sonars, including side-scan sonar, synthetic aperture sonar, forward-looking imaging sonar, multi-beam sounding sonar, and broadside and towed passive sounding sonar.
Due to the limitations of unmanned underwater vehicles in terms of payload space and energy, it is necessary to load corresponding sonar equipment according to the requirements of different tasks in practical applications.
The unmanned underwater vehicle is mainly equipped with sonar:
Source: Current Situation and Development Trend of Sonar Equipment for Unmanned Underwater Vehicles
According to the different combat missions, sonar can be divided into detection sonar, communication sonar, underwater guidance sonar, collision avoidance sonar, thunder detection sonar, and underwater acoustic countermeasure system.
When an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) is navigating underwater, the radiated noise generated by it mainly includes mechanical noise, propeller noise and hydrodynamic noise.
The radiated noise power of the small UUV is relatively low, but the noise level is about the same as that of the semi-enclosed frogman and the quiet submarine, and higher than that of the fully enclosed frogman.
At present, countries mainly rely on frogman detection sonar systems (DDS) and coastal monitoring sonar for the detection of unmanned underwater vehicles.
Compared with surface equipment, underwater equipment faces more detection blind spots.
Since sonar is the most effective means of underwater detection, sonar often accounts for a higher proportion of the overall cost of underwater equipment. Submarines will install sonar for different purposes in the bow, stern, side and lower part of the boat to meet the needs of underwater detection.
Sonar industry chain combing
The upstream of the sonar industry chain is composed of transducer sensing components such as piezoelectric ceramics, sensing optical fibers, and piezoelectric single crystals, as well as electronic components such as circuit boards, wires, and connectors. Participants in this session include military research institutes and some private enterprises, such as Zibo Yuhai Electronic Ceramics, a subsidiary of China Haiphong and AVIC Optoelectronics.
The midstream is the core link of the industrial chain, mainly including the manufacture of dry-end signal processing platforms, cables, power amplifier equipment and wet-end hydroacoustic transducers, and the downstream is the installation platform of various sonars.
Diagram of sonar industry chain:
Source: Wang Binghe, "The Application of Sonar Technology and Its Latest Progress"
Sonar Competitive Landscape and Faucet Carding
Overseas sonar has a strong head effect, and the market share is mainly occupied by companies in the United States, France, Norway and other countries.
In recent years, with the growing demand for large-area underwater target detection and the development of unmanned anti-submarine technology, the fifth generation of multifunctional unmanned operated sonar has begun to emerge.
The modular scalable sonar system (MS3) developed by Raytheon for the DARPA anti-submarine persistent tracking unmanned vehicle (ACTUV) project is a typical example of this field.
At present, the domestic civil sonar industry has not yet formed a large-scale development, and the military sonar field is mainly dominated by the China Shipbuilding Research Institute, and major universities and related private enterprises are also involved. Military industrial groups such as China Electronics, China Electronics Technology Co., Ltd., and AVIC also have layouts in the field of sonar, such as the 23 Institute of China Electronics Branch and the Xiangji Haidun of China Electronics are mainly involved in the research and development and production of optical fiber hydrophones, and AVIC mainly supplies electronic devices and participates in the research and development of hoisting and buoy sonar. #军工##声呐##科技##财经##船舶#
Among the representative manufacturers of the sonar industry chain, China Haiphong is the listed platform of the electronic information industry under China Shipbuilding Group, and is the core supplier of underwater information construction, underwater acoustic defense system and underwater special installation electronics in the mainland. The company successfully injected the equity of Great Wall Electronics and Sesco through major asset restructuring, and then further injected the equity of Haisheng Technology, Jereh Holdings, Liaohai Equipment, Qingdao Jereh, Jereh Electronics and CSSC Yongzhi, and a number of core assets and technologies of underwater acoustic information equipment were installed, further consolidating the leading position in the industry.
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