Synthetic Aperture Acoustic Imaging of Canonical Targets with a 2-15 kHz Linear FM Chirp

Abstract

Synthetic aperture image reconstruction applied to outdoor acoustic recordings is presented. Acoustic imaging is an alternate method having several military relevant advantages such as being immune to RF jamming, superior spatial resolution, capable of standoff side and forward-looking scanning, and relatively low cost, weight and size when compared to as compared to 0.5 - 3 GHz ground penetrating radar technologies. Synthetic aperture acoustic imaging is similar to synthetic aperture radar but more akin to synthetic aperture sonar technologies owing to the nature of longitudinal or compressive wave propagation in the surrounding acoustic medium. The system's transceiver is a quasi mono-static microphone and audio speaker pair mounted on a 5-meter rail. Received data sampling rate is 80 kHz with a 2-15 kHz Linear Frequency Modulated (LFM) chirp with a pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of 10 Hz and an inter-pulse period (IPP) of 50 milliseconds. Targets are positioned within the acoustic scene at slant range of two to ten meters on grass, dirt or gravel surfaces and with and without intervening metallic chain link fencing. Acoustic image reconstruction results in means for literal interpretation and quantifiable analyses. A rudimentary technique characterizes acoustic scatter at the ground surfaces. Targets within the acoustic scene are first digitally spotlighted and further processed providing frequency and aspect angle dependent signature information

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 25, 2011
Accession Number
ADA558467

Entities

People

  • Chelsea Good
  • John Judge
  • Joseph Vignola
  • Mehrdad Soumekh
  • Peter Gugino
  • Steven Bishop

Organizations

  • The Catholic University of America

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acoustic Measurement
  • Acoustic Signatures
  • Background Noise
  • Data Acquisition
  • Elevation
  • Environment
  • Frequency
  • Frequency Domain
  • Ground Penetrating Radar
  • Human Factors Engineering
  • Image Reconstruction
  • Materials
  • Measurement
  • Radiation
  • Repetition Rate
  • Synthetic Aperture Radar
  • Wave Propagation

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Acoustics.
  • Image Processing and Computer Vision.
  • Radar Systems Engineering.