# Sonar
> On the **[[PORTAL_Acoustics|Acoustics]]** spine · article face [[Acoustics]]. Microsim queued; the physics is complete.
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## Microsims — p5.js
### Sonar (p5.js) · `acoustic echo`
<div class="microsim-player">
<iframe src="https://editor.p5js.org/sciencenibber/full/JUw9ofgG6" width="100%" height="480" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin" title="Sonar — p5.js microsim"></iframe>
</div>
*Radar's underwater cousin: locate objects by timing sound echoes.*
**Open in the editor:** [▶ fork this sketch](https://editor.p5js.org/sciencenibber/sketches/JUw9ofgG6) · movement *VII · Antennas, waves & RF propagation* · library `p5js`
### Related microsims
Live sims on neighbouring articles:
- [[Ultrasound]]
- [[Reverberation]]
*Sim hosted off-article; the article owns the reference, not the runtime (WIKI_RULES §10.4). Placed by `g08_place_microsims.py`.*
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## Microsim — queued
<p class="wt-pending"><strong>Microsim in the draft queue.</strong> The interactive p5.js sim for this station is being built via the two-queue pipeline; the sourced physics below is complete and citable now.</p>
## Overview
### What it is
Sonar (sound navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound waves propagating through water to detect, locate, and characterise underwater objects.
### How it works / why it matters
Active sonar transmits an acoustic pulse and measures the round-trip time of the echo to find range, while passive sonar merely listens for radiated noise to find bearing; arrays of transducers form beams and Doppler shifts reveal target motion. Because radio waves are strongly absorbed by water while sound travels far, sonar is the underwater counterpart of radar. It underpins submarine detection, bathymetry, fish finding, and underwater navigation.
**On the spine:** [[Sound]] · [[Wave]] · [[Oscillation]] · [[Vibration]] · [[Acoustic_wave]] · [[Mechanical_wave]] · [[Plane_wave]] · [[Wave_equation]] · [[Harmonic_oscillator]] · [[Ultrasound]] · [[Doppler_effect]] · [[Fourier_analysis]] · [[Digital_signal_processing]] · [[Acoustics]] · [[Reverberation]] · portal [[PORTAL_Acoustics]].
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**Microsim — three.js (Wikitube framework):** *Sonar*
<div class="wt-sim" data-src="https://wikitube-3d-microsims.netlify.app/acoustics/Sonar.html" data-title="Sonar"></div>
*Built from `MICROSIM_GUIDE/specs/acoustics/variants/Sonar.json`; part of the [[PORTAL_Acoustics|Acoustics portal]] spine (section sims and See-also variants).*
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## Wikipedia : Wikitube
**Strict pair:** [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonar) : [Wikitube](https://en.wikitube.io/wiki/Sonar)
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*Repopulated 2026-08-05 · text transfer from legacy Signal-Processing lane · sim queued · 0 deletions.*