Estimation and measurement of the acoustic signature of unmanned surface and underwater vehicles.

As the use of unmanned surface and underwater vehicles (USVs and UUVs) increases, the acoustic signature and self‐noise of these vehicles become important for certain type of applications. For low‐detection probability the UUV or USV must have a low‐acoustic signature. Furthermore, the self‐noise of the UUV or USV may interfere with on‐board sonar sensors, especially as more sophisticated sonar systems are being developed. As the concept of the USV or UUV is to design for low cost and low weight, with low availability of power, it is important to address the mitigation of the acoustic signature during the design phase through estimation techniques based on modeling and component level selection. Additionally during the test and integration phase, methods to measure the acoustic signature without resorting to expensive offshore measurements in “quiet” acoustic test ranges are required. In this presentation some of the approaches available for modeling and testing are discussed, together with the challenges faced by noise control engineers working these type problems and the type of noise sources that have to be addressed.