USING THE SPECULAR COMPONENT OF SPHERE BACKSCATTERING FOR BROAD-BAND TRANSCEIVER CALIBRATION

Transducers are generally calibrated using triple reciprocity or by re ference to a standard. In the case where the transducer is acting as a transceiver, backscattering measurements from tragets with known scat tering characteristics can be employed. In the present study the refle cted component of the band limited impulse response of a sphere is use d to calibrate a broadband transceiver, and comparisons are made with self reciprocity measurements using the reflection from an air - water interface. Both these results are compared with a calibration curve f or the transducer obtained using the reference method. The advantage o f using a target of known scattering properties is the transceiver cal ibration can be readily and repeatedly checked, and any changes can be accommodated into the measurement program.