Review on Underwater Sonar Power Amplifier Technologies

Active SONAR transmitter system uses power amplifiers (PA) to increase the amplitude of sonar control signals, which ultimately excites the underwater projector load. The underwater projector offers complex impedance to the SONAR power amplifier (SPA). An impedance matching network is added to improve the power transfer from the SPA to the transducer. This paper reviews various SPAs that drive the projector load for underwater applications. The design constraints of the SPA’s used for transmitter applications were discussed to qualify the sonar PA's. Further, some of the recent developments on SPA’s are discussed to showcase the benefits of the technological innovations.