Assessing the Impacts of Environmental Uncertainties in Sonar Performance Prediction Using Data from Mid-Frequency Acoustic Experiments
Abstract
"There are three main objectives of the proposed work. The first is to utilize the geo-acoustic model to complete the program of obtaining unambiguous data/model comparisons for TREX13 reverberation and transmission loss. This will entail the synthesis of the environmental measurements collected during the experiment to produce a consistent spatial and temporal description of the environment. This synthesis will then be used to model the transmission loss,reverberation, and target scattering and compare the model results to data collected over the course of the experiment. Once the TREX13 data/model comparisons have been completed, they will be used address the second objective which is to understand the impacts of limited environmental data onuncertainties in mid-frequency sonar performance prediction. Using the TREX13 environmental synthesis and data/model comparisons, sonar performance predictions based on inversions of reverberation and/or transmission loss will be evaluated using acoustic data taken over the course of the experiment under different oceanographic and sea surface conditions. The long-term goalof this work is to assess and understand the limits of approaches used by the Navy to invert acoustic data for environmental characterization for sonar performance prediction. The final objective is to extend the analysis of mid-frequency transmission loss and reverberation to data collected in several recent experiments. The analysis of transmission loss and bistatic reverberation during TREX13 relied heavily on the towed source data collected by Dr. WilliamHodgkiss on two vertical line arrays. Subsequent to TREX13, identical easurements were made during the Shallow-water Acoustic Variability Experiment in 2015 (SAVEX15) and the Seabed Characterization Experiment in 2017 (SBCEX). The similarity of the subsequent measurements to those made during TREX13 makes it straightforward to analyze these new datasets using thesame techniques. The goal of the third part of the proposed work will be to analyze these new datasets to measure mid-frequency transmission loss and reverberation and assess the limitations of model-based inversions for sonar performance prediction in environments different from that of TREX13.The long-term goal of the proposed work is to understand the extent to which limited environmental characterization can provide sufficiently accurate mid-frequency sonar performance prediction and to identify key environmental parameters for sonar performance. This is a long-standing issue for naval operations and the TREX13 dataset has the potential to provide valuable insights."
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 29, 2020
- Source ID
- N000142012161
Entities
People
- Brian T. Hefner
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Washington