VECTRA · HIGH-RESOLUTION AND ROBUST TIME REVERSAL ACOUSTICS USING VECTOR SENSOR ARRAYS

Focusing waves at a point in space (both in time and space) with a high-precision through a complex medium is of great interest in a variety of science and engineering disciplines such as astronomy, medicine, wireless communications, electromagnetics, and geophysics, to name a few. In recent years, time reversal focusing has emerged as the most promising method for this purpose and offers several important advantages over conventional methods. However, time reversal has its own drawbacks which have limited its success, mainly due to the lack of desired spatial resolution of the focus. The project titled “High-Resolution and Robust Time Reversal Acoustics Using Vector Sensor Arrays” aims to improve time reversal processing by using acoustic vector sensors capable of not only measuring the scalar pressure, but also the vectorial particle velocity associated with an acoustic field. This research will investigate high-resolution algorithms and time reversal methods that utilize the additional information provided by the acoustic particle velocity. The results of the project are expected to have a direct impact on fields such as underwater acoustic communications and sensor networks.