Do dolphins benefit from nonlinear mathematics when processing their sonar returns? The title of an interesting and complex study of dolphin sonar from the University of Southampton UK, looking into how dolphins process their sonar signals in bubbly water, produced by their very own bubble nets for hunting fish, which would confuse the incoming signal making it difficult to distinguish between bubbles or fish. However, researchers found that if these animals have non-linear signal processing capabilities (as opposed to linear) then sonar signals of bubbles and fish are differentiable. The application of non-linear signal processing has implications for the engineering of man-made sonar, enabling targets, such as sea mines, to be distinguished that would be missed by conventional linear signal processing.
I am not at all a whiz when it comes to signal processing theory, but the crossover between the use of sound in dolphins and human engineering is interesting, and shows how complex and how little we still understand about these highly evolved beings.
Read the article on the University of Southampton website: http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=122555&CultureCode=en
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