Opto-Acoustic Intensity Probes for Fused Video and Vector Acoustics Measurements in Undersea Monitoring

Acoustic intensity probes are readily available commercial assets often found in the automobile industry. Pairing of vector mechanics based readings of acoustic output coupled with video allow users to quickly observe visually where a noise source exists on a target of interest. The advent of undersea acoustic vector sensor technology in the last few decades has allowed for the possibility of compact low frequency measurement tools on the order of hand-held for diver use size applications. By coupling the relative omni-directional beam patterns of an acoustic vector sensor with the relative field of view of a hand-held camera, it becomes possible to map acoustic wavefront estimations to the pixelated video output of the camera. An example using variable drive motors in a remote operated vehicle is presented.