Sonar (originally an acronym for SOund Navigation And Ranging) is a technique th

at uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in Submarine navigation) to na

vigate, communicate with or detect other vessels. Two types of technology share
the name "sonar": passive sonar is essentially listening for the sound made by v
essels; active sonar is emitting pulses of sounds and listening for echoes. Sona
r may be used as a means of acoustic location and of measurement of the echo cha
racteristics of "targets" in the water. Acoustic location in air was used before
the introduction of radar. Sonar may also be used in air for robot navigation,
and SODAR (an upward looking in-air sonar) is used for atmospheric investigation
s. The term sonar is also used for the equipment used to generate and receive th
e sound. The acoustic frequencies used in sonar systems vary from very low (infr
asonic) to extremely high (ultrasonic). The study of underwater sound is known a
s underwater acoustics or hydroacoustics.

* 1 History
o 1.1 ASDIC
o 1.2 SONAR
* 2 Performance factors
o 2.1 Sound propagation
o 2.2 Scattering
o 2.3 Target characteristics
o 2.4 Countermeasures
* 3 Active sonar
o 3.1 Project ARTEMIS
o 3.2 Transponder
o 3.3 Performance prediction
o 3.4 Marine mammals
o 3.5 Hand-held sonar for use by a diver
* 4 Passive sonar
o 4.1 Identifying sound sources
o 4.2 Noise limitations
o 4.3 Performance prediction
* 5 Warfare
o 5.1 Anti-submarine warfare
o 5.2 Torpedoes
o 5.3 Mines
o 5.4 Mine countermeasures
o 5.5 Submarine navigation
o 5.6 Aircraft
o 5.7 Underwater communications
o 5.8 Ocean surveillance
o 5.9 Underwater security
o 5.10 Hand-held sonar
o 5.11 Intercept sonar
* 6 Civilian applications
o 6.1 Fisheries
o 6.2 Echo sounding
o 6.3 Net location
o 6.4 Ship velocity measurement
o 6.5 ROV and UUV
o 6.6 Vehicle location
* 7 Scientific applications
o 7.1 Biomass estimation
o 7.2 Wave measurement
o 7.3 Water velocity measurement
o 7.4 Bottom type assessment
o 7.5 Bottom topography measurement
o 7.6 Sub-bottom profiling
 o 7.7 Synthetic aperture sonar
o 7.8 Parametric sonar
* 8 See also
* 9 References
* 10 Bibliography
* 11 Further reading
* 12 External links