ASA 129th Meeting - Washington, DC - 1995 May 30 .. Jun 06

5pUW14. Using matched-field processing technique to map the forward-scattered signal.

Yung P. Lee

Sci. Applications Int'l. Corp., 1710 Goodridge Dr., MS T1-3-5, McLean, VA

Matched-field processing combines an acoustic propagation model with matched-filter processing to localize a source in three-dimensional space. It has been shown to be effective in discriminating passive sources both in range and depth by exploiting the vertical structure of the signal. Reverberation, especially the surface-scattered energy, is the primary concern for active systems. Surface scattering occurs near the ocean surface. Since matched-field processing can discriminate in depth, it may potentially provide significant clutter suppression for active systems. In a sea test, a vertical array was deployed and a cw source was moored from a stationary platform approximately 18.6 km away from the array. The forward-scattered energy was spectrally separated from the carrier and then MFP was performed to examine the spatial distribution of the scattered energy. MFP successfully maps the scattered energy near the surface. Simulations was done by generating realization of an ocean surface with randomly distributed surface waves and a modified FEPE was used to propagate signals to a vertical array. Results of this simulation show that MFP also successfully maps the simulated scattered energy near the surface. [Work supported by U.S. Navy.]