New Australian sonar designed for shallow water

Sydney based Macquarie University and the nearby University of Wollongong have developed a sonar sensor capable of operating in shallow water and coastal environments.

The two universities’ smart sonar and accessible hydrography project has progressed the local manufacturing of state-of-the-art transducers for high-sensitivity sonar systems, proving Australia need not rely so heavily on international suppliers, says the New South Wales (NSW) Smart Sensing Network (NSSN).

The NSSN is a not-for-profit Innovation Network funded by the NSW Government through the Office of the NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer. It is intended to bring together universities, industry and government to translate world-class research into innovative smart sensing solutions that create value for the economy, environment and society of NSW and beyond.

High-sensitivity sonar systems are vital for water managers, dam operators, mining sites, and environmental monitoring, enabling the mapping of riverbeds, tracking of sediment movement, and surveillance of underwater vegetation such as seagrass, says the NSSN. The new transducer shows strong promise for surveying flooded and storm-damaged areas, and coastal environments.

The project, supported by the NSSN’s $100,000 Grand Challenge Fund, was led by Dr Matthew Roberts, Senior Lecturer in Macquarie University’s School of Computing. He contributed advanced signal processing and data analytics, enabling the sonar transducer to generate detailed maps and measurements of underwater environments in real time.

“This project proves that Australia can develop underwater sonar technology from start to finish,” Dr Roberts said. “It’s not just about the hardware—it’s about the full capability, from ceramic design to field deployment, that allows us to build systems tailored to Australian needs.” At the heart of the system is a ceramic transducer which converts electrical energy into underwater sound waves. The piezoelectric ceramic material, developed by the University of Wollongong, is typically used in medical ultrasound and has now been adapted for underwater applications in Australia.

“This high-sensitivity transducer was built on a foundation of advanced, domestically fabricated piezoelectric ceramics, crucial for operating in complex shallow waters,” said Distinguished Professor Shujun Zhang from the Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials at the University of Wollongong, the co-investigator on the project. “The project also strengthens vital sovereign capability by training the next generation of Australian material researchers in cutting-edge transducer design.”

The project team conducted successful field trials, acquiring data from a sonar transducer at Nelson Bay, Shoalhaven and Sydney, with strong performance across a range of conditions. The project has shown that a complete local supply chain in shallow water sonar systems can be established spanning design, manufacturing, programming, control systems, and data analysis to deliver sophisticated sonar applications at smaller scales.

The system is now being assessed for potential commercialisation by industry partner CEE HydroSystems, an Australian manufacturer of hydrographic survey echo sounders and tide gauges. Managing Director of CEE HydroSystems, Peter Garforth said there is particular interest in its potential applications for environmental monitoring of water level changes and disaster response.

“During COVID, Australian manufactures felt the impact of relying on essential product components that are made overseas,” Mr Garforth said.  “The potential of a locally produced sonar transducer that can be used for commercial, shallow water purposes in Australia is very encouraging.”

The project has also helped build a pipeline of skilled talent, with undergraduate mechanical and mechatronic engineers trained in ceramics, housing design, electronics, and field testing. “It was a challenge to find people skilled to work on the project due the very specific nature of the skills,” Dr Roberts said. “The number of people who can configure drone software for boats in Australia is in the single digits, but we added two more with this project.”