Mapping Clutter In Situ: Broadband Results from T-MAST 02 and Boundary 2004

Abstract

This paper presents experimental results of applying two methods to help mitigate the seabed clutter problem by spatially isolating significant reverberant features in situ: 1) a "clutter mapping" technique applied to broadband (400 to 2500 Hz) acoustic data collected in the vicinity of the Stanton Banks off of Scotland during the T-MAST 02 experiment; and 2) the use of a cardioid receiver array on the Malta Plateau off of Sicily during the Boundary 2004 experiment. It is shown that while there are a number of correspondences between strong clutter events and the leading edges of known bathymetric features, there are also a number of clutter returns with no obvious corresponding bathymetric relief. The implications are that relying on archival bathymetric (and wreck) databases will in general be insufficient, and that in-situ reverberation assessments need to be conducted that yield not just the mean (intensity) characteristics, but also the statistics.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2006
Accession Number
ADA503370

Entities

People

  • J. M. Fialkowski
  • R. C. Gauss

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Active Sonar
  • Arrays
  • Boundaries
  • Broadband
  • Data Processing
  • False Alarms
  • Frequency
  • Frequency Bands
  • High Resolution
  • Leading Edges
  • Measurement
  • Military Research
  • Orientation (Direction)
  • Ridges
  • Shallow Water
  • Sonar
  • United States

Readers

  • Acoustical Oceanography.
  • Computer Vision.
  • Oceanography.