Dolphins may use nonlinear mathematics to find prey hidden in bubbles, reports Science News. Findings could improve man-madesonar by using dolphin-like sonar pulses.
A study by the Proceedings of the Royal Society A looked at how dolphins process their signals. They are able to distinguish between clutter in the bubbles and their targets, something man-made sonar has difficulty doing because the bubbles generate clutter in the sonar image and make it difficult to find the true target. Dolphins blow bubble nets to capture prey.
While the study does not conclusively prove that dolphins use nonlinear processing, it demonstrates that humans can use dolphin-like sonar pulses to detect and classify objects of interest in bubbly water.
The military has difficulty finding objects in breaking waves and shallow coastal water where there are undersea bubble clouds. Using the dolphins’ echolocation abilities will aid the military in activities such as mine detection.
A dolphin’s sonar is not better than man-made sonar. Researchers needed to determine if dolphins are using echolocation sense binding (hunting by vision or tactile senses) or using something that man-made sonar does not use. The study applied nonlinear mathematical functions to process the echoes of dolphin-like pulses. Standard sonar cannot find targets in bubble clutter, but nonlinear processing can.
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