Dolphins inspire new radar system

Inspired by how dolphins hunt with bubble nets, engineers at UCL, the University of Southampton and Cobham Technical Services, have developed a new kind of radar that can detect hidden surveillance equipment and explosives. The twin inverted pulse radar (TWIPR) is able to distinguish true 'targets', such as certain types of electronic circuits that may be used in explosive or espionage devices, from 'clutter' (other metallic items like pipes, drinks cans, nails for example) that may be mistaken for a genuine target by traditional radar and metal detectors. The new system is based on a sonar concept called twin inverted pulse sonar (TWIPS). TWIPS mimics the natural abilities of dolphins to process their sonar signals to distinguish between targets and clutter in bubbly water. The technique uses a signal consisting of two pulses in quick succession, one identical to the other but phase inverted. A team at the University of Southampton showed that TWIPS could enhance linear scatter from the target, while simultaneously suppressing nonlinear scattering from oceanic bubbles. Some dolphins blow bubble nets to hunt fish and their sonar would not work if they could not distinguish the fish from the bubbles.