ASA 130th Meeting - St. Louis, MO - 1995 Nov 27 .. Dec 01

2aUW10. Scattering function characterization of underwater acoustic channels.

Christopher J. Link

R. Lee Culver

Graduate Prog. in Acoust., Penn State Univ., State College, PA 16804

Underwater acoustic channels can be modeled as linear, time-varying, random filters. If the wide-sense stationary uncorrelated spreading (WSSUS) assumption is valid then the scattering function [L. J. Ziomek, Underwater Acoustics: A Linear Systems Theory Approach (Academic, Orlando, FL, 1985)] completely defines the time and frequency characteristics of the channel. The scattering function is measured using traditional matched filter processing and the newer uncertainty product function (UPF) receiver [S. K. Mehta, Signal Design Issues for the Wigner Distribution Function and a New Twin Processor for the Measurement of Target and/or Channel Structures (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, 1991)]. The structure and performance of the UPF receiver will be discussed. The theory behind the scattering function and experimental results from sites off Halifax, Canada, and in Puget Sound will be presented.