A Review of the Role of Acoustic Sensors in the Modern Battlefield

Abstract

Acoustic sensors have been used for battlefield applications since World War I. Acoustic sensors provide several advantages and are increasingly employed in the modern high-tech battlefield. The twenty-first century battlefield calls for cutting-edge technology for military superiority and deployment of state-of-the-art acoustic sensor systems that employ advanced acoustic signal processing. Thus acoustic sensing technology is becoming increasingly important to accomplish this superiority. The utilization of several acoustic sensor systems dating from the early 1900s to the present is reviewed. The role of acoustic sensor technology in military exercises for ground-based, aerial, and naval combat is discussed. A detailed review of acoustic signal processing and the different stages involved-sound rejection, detection, localization, classification and cancellation-is presented. The advantages and disadvantages of using acoustic technology for potential battlefield applications are presented, and the potential role to be played by acoustics in future warfare is also discussed.

Microphone array based classification for security monitoring in unstructured environments

“…The idea of coarse-to-grained classification is discussed in [32], and can easily be justified by some informal judgments. In particular, the average frequency spectrum of a weapon presents ample differences from the average spectrum of a vehicle [3], and these differences are easier to learn with respect to the specific differences in spectrum inside each category. This same reasoning applies also to the third level of the architecture, whose task is to distinguish between aerial and ground vehicles.…”

“…Of particular interest for their flexibility and cheapness are the systems based on acoustic sensors [2]. When we consider generic outdoor scenarios, an equivalent automatic security monitoring system based on a microphone array would be an invaluable tool in assessing and controlling any type of situation occurring in them [3]. This includes, but is not limited to, handling large civil events, or increasing the awareness of a terrain in military contexts.…”

Research of a new sensor method for predicting arbitrary waves through structural configuration analysis

“…The generation of electrical charges is done in response to mechanical stress, when the mechanical wave propagates through the sensor (Wang et al, 2008). These sensors have many advantages, such as extreme stability in possibly high-temperature environments and excellent reliability, so they are used in a wide variety of target identification (Kaushik et al, 2005), for example, in potential battlefield, application for searching frequencies and angles from incoming acoustic signals generated by distance hostile artilleries. However, they have the obvious disadvantage of being unable to measure statically over a longer period of time, because piezoelectric material itself is finitely high insulation resistance and not completely free of leakage currents necessary for the real static measurement (Claudio et al, 2011).…”

“…Also piezoelectric acoustic sensors working through piezoelectricity phenomenon will bring the system error to the measured parameters in the process of electromechanical conversion. In addition, in the deep underwater exploration and other fields, due to the influence of water temperature, density, and wind turbulence, acoustic wave sensor applications are weakened by bending acoustic wave propagation or changing acoustic wave velocity (Kaushik et al, 2005). Problems described above have caused great challenges to the design of current acoustic sensors.…”

Quantitative Assessment of Upper Limb Motion in Neurorehabilitation Utilizing Inertial Sensors

“…Acoustic sensing and magnetic sensing are affected by ambient conditions e.g. temperature, humidity or surrounding conductive/magnetic materials [14]. However, recent advances in inertial sensing technology based on micromachined electromechanical systems (MEMS) [15] have made the use of small and lightweight inertial sensors a viable option.…”