Simulation of the Directivity of Round Array

This paper discusses a kind of round array which is suitable for the small underwater vehicle. Through establishing a mathematical model of array directivity, the directivity of the array is simulated and the factors which may affect the directivity are analyzed. The result indicated that compared with the general array element, using the hydrophone with unilateral directivity and super directivity property for the array element, not only can eliminate the grating lobe, reduce the side lobe and the main lobe of the array, and can enhance the directivity index greatly, thus improving the directivity characteristics of the array comprehensively. Moreover along with frequency reduction, this kind of improvement is more remarkable. The array which uses unilateral directivity hydrophone as array element can work much better under low frequency condition.