Beschreibung:
<jats:p>Undergraduate senior level physics majors taking Acoustics and oceanography majors taking Underwater Acoustics and Sonar learn about transmitting and receiving arrays (in one unit of their course) and do laboratory experiments to support and enhance the theoretical developments. However, there is a need to expose the students to a detailed unit on synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) while research at USNA is in progress and a teaching laboratory workstation is being developed. This paper communicates the teaching strategy on the topics describing: (a) how a strip-mapped SAS system works, (b) how matched-filtering relates to pulsed compression for a linearly modulated (LFM) pulsed chirp, (c) how synthetic aperture resolution is vastly improved over a conventional acoustic array, (d) how Fourier analysis is used in SAS, and (e) how a data set of N echoes can be used within a back-projection algorithm to obtain a two dimensional reflectivity image of an area (sea floor). Key points are (1) theory with visualizations to convey the teaching material to seniors in a two week period of time, (2) computer simulations, (3) classroom demonstrations in a water tank or in air, and (4) student involvement in a mini-research project using the computers and demonstration apparatus.</jats:p>