Vehicle with surface array of transducers controlling drag

A vehicle designed to be propelled through a fluid medium comprising:

• a surface of the vehicle, the surface for contacting the fluid medium, wherein when the vehicle is propelled through the fluid medium, a flow of the fluid medium over the surface nominally produces a plurality of eddies in the fluid medium;
• an array of transducers arranged across the surface for generating a plurality of pressure waves in the fluid medium, each of the transducers in the array arranged to vibrate for generating a respective pressure wave of the plurality, the respective pressure wave propagating away from the surface in the fluid medium;
• and
• a controller adapted to vibrate those of the transducers that are disposed on the surface in advance of a movement along the surface of each of at least one sensed eddy of the eddies so that the pressure waves control a drag of the vehicle from the fluid medium when the vehicle is propelled through the fluid medium, wherein:
• the controller is adapted to vibrate those of the transducers that are disposed on the surface in advance of the movement of the sensed eddy along the surface such that the pressure waves from the transducers counteract the sensed eddy, thereby diminishing a strength of the eddies and reducing the drag on the vehicle from the fluid medium;
• the transducers are for a dual role of both generating the pressure waves and measuring the strength of the eddies;
• the controller is adapted to vibrate the transducers in the array in response to a pattern of the movement and the strength of each of the at least one sensed eddy of the eddies as measured by the transducers;
• the controller is adapted to coordinate driving a plurality of respective electrical signals for the transducers for generating the pressure waves within a first band of driven frequencies for canceling the eddies and maintaining the flow that is laminar over the surface of the vehicle;
• the transducers serve in the dual role including measuring the strength of the eddies because the strength of the eddies induces corresponding feedback on the respective electrical signal for each of the transducers;
• the controller includes a respective filter for each of the transducers, the respective filter separating, from the respective electrical signal, a second band of induced frequencies of the feedback from the first band of driven frequencies;
• and
• the controller is adapted to oscillate the transducers in the array within the first band of driven frequencies in response to the strength of the eddies determined from the second band of induced frequencies of the feedback.