A distributed fiber optic hydrophone (DFOH) is a new type of fiber optic hydrophone (FOH) with adjustable structure. The dependence of the directivity of a DFOH on array structure is theoretically and experimentally studied. The directivity function of a sensing channel and that of a DFOH are derived. Based on the directivity function, the simulations are performed. Finally, the theoretical analysis is demonstrated by the experiments performed on Qingyang lake, and the results reveal that the longer sensing channel length guarantees the lower first-order side lobe and the narrower main lobe. As the channel length increased from 1 to 3, the main lobe width and first-order side lobe height decreased by 4.9° and 6 dB, respectively. In addition, channel spacing is irrelevant to directivity as the spacing is shorter than the wavelength. As the channel spacing increased from 0 to 1, the variations of the main lobe width and first-order side lobe height are lower than 0.5° and 0.94 dB, respectively. This study would provide guidance for the structure design of a distributed fiber optic hydrophone in signal processing.
Keywords: channel length; channel spacing; directivity function; distributed fiber optic hydrophone.