Temporal coherence of sound transmissions in deep water revisited

This paper examines the signal coherence loss due to internal waves in deep water in terms of the signal coherence time and compare to data reported in the literature over the past 35 years. The coherence time of the early raylike arrivals was previously modeled by Munk and Zachariasen ["Sound propagation through a fluctuating stratified ocean: Theory and observation," J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 59, 818-838 (1976)] using the supereikonal approximation and by Dashen et al. ["Path-integral treatment of acoustic mutual coherence functions for arrays in a sound channel," J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 77, 1716-1722 (1985)] using the path integral approach; a -1 [corrected] power frequency dependence and a -1/2 [corrected] power range dependence were predicted. Recent data in shallow water in downward refractive environments with internal waves suggested that the signal coherence time of the mode arrivals follows a -3/2 power frequency dependence and a -1/2 power range dependence. Since the temporal coherence of the acoustic signal is related to the temporal coherence of the internal waves, based on the observation that the (linear) internal waves in deep and shallow waters have a similar frequency spectrum, it is argued that the modelike arrivals in deep water should exhibit a similar frequency dependence in deep and shallow waters. This argument is supported by a brute-force application of the path integral to mode arrivals based on the WKB relation between the ray and mode. It is found that the data are consistent with the -3/2 power frequency dependence but more data are needed to further test the hypothesis.     

深远海线性内波条件下声场时间相关性的空间分布

深海声场特定的干涉结构导致其时间相关性的空间起伏,研究这种空间特性可以为水声信号的探测与处理提供重要参考。利用抛物方程声场仿真模型,联合Monte-Carlo数值方法计算分析了深远海线性内波条件下声场时间相关性的空间分布特性。与现有的研究相比,给出了时间相关性的距离和深度起伏特征。结果表明,当接收达到一定距离,声场时间相关性的空间分布具有与声场干涉条纹类似的结构,声场干涉越强,时间相关性越好。此外,声源频率和声速标准差的变化会引起时间相关性空间分布规律的改变,且会聚区传播模式下的改变强于深海声道传播模式。      

Temporal coherence of acoustic signals in a fluctuating ocean

Temporal coherence of acoustic signals propagating in a fluctuating ocean is important for many practical applications and has been studied intensively experimentally. However, only a few theoretical formulations of temporal coherence exist. In the present paper, a three-dimensional (3D) modal theory of sound propagation in a fluctuating ocean is used to derive closed-form equations for the spatial-temporal coherence function of a broadband signal. The theory is applied to the analysis of the temporal coherence of a monochromatic signal propagating in an ocean perturbed by linear internal waves obeying the Garrett-Munk (G-M) spectral model. In particular, the temporal coherence function is calculated for propagation ranges up to 10(4) km and for five sound frequencies: 12, 25, 50, 75, and 100 Hz. Then, the dependence of the coherence time (i.e., the value of the time lag at which the temporal coherence decreases by a factor of e) on range and frequency is studied. The results obtained are compared with experimental data and predictions of the path-integral theory.     

A high-frequency warm shallow water acoustic communications channel model and measurements

Underwater acoustic communication is a core enabling technology with applications in ocean monitoring using remote sensors and autonomous underwater vehicles. One of the more challenging underwater acoustic communication channels is the medium-range very shallow warm-water channel, common in tropical coastal regions. This channel exhibits two key features-extensive time-varying multipath and high levels of non-Gaussian ambient noise due to snapping shrimp-both of which limit the performance of traditional communication techniques. A good understanding of the communications channel is key to the design of communication systems. It aids in the development of signal processing techniques as well as in the testing of the techniques via simulation. In this article, a physics-based channel model for the very shallow warm-water acoustic channel at high frequencies is developed, which are of interest to medium-range communication system developers. The model is based on ray acoustics and includes time-varying statistical effects as well as non-Gaussian ambient noise statistics observed during channel studies. The model is calibrated and its accuracy validated using measurements made at sea.     

Acoustic propagation through anisotropic internal wave fields: transmission loss, cross-range coherence, and horizontal refraction

Results of a computer simulation study are presented for acoustic propagation in a shallow water, anisotropic ocean environment. The water column is characterized by random volume fluctuations in the sound speed field that are induced by internal gravity waves, and this variability is superimposed on a dominant summer thermocline. Both the internal wave field and resulting sound speed perturbations are represented in three-dimensional (3D) space and evolve in time. The isopycnal displacements consist of two components: a spatially diffuse, horizontally isotropic component and a spatially localized contribution from an undular bore (i.e., a solitary wave packet or solibore) that exhibits horizontal (azimuthal) anisotropy. An acoustic field is propagated through this waveguide using a 3D parabolic equation code based on differential operators representing wide-angle coverage in elevation and narrow-angle coverage in azimuth. Transmission loss is evaluated both for fixed time snapshots of the environment and as a function of time over an ordered set of snapshots which represent the time-evolving sound speed distribution. Horizontal acoustic coherence, also known as transverse or cross-range coherence, is estimated for horizontally separated points in the direction normal to the source-receiver orientation. Both transmission loss and spatial coherence are computed at acoustic frequencies 200 and 400 Hz for ranges extending to 10 km, a cross-range of 1 km, and a water depth of 68 m. Azimuthal filtering of the propagated field occurs for this environment, with the strongest variations appearing when propagation is parallel to the solitary wave depressions of the thermocline. A large anisotropic degradation in horizontal coherence occurs under the same conditions. Horizontal refraction of the acoustic wave front is responsible for the degradation, as demonstrated by an energy gradient analysis of in-plane and out-of-plane energy transfer. The solitary wave packet is interpreted as a nonstationary oceanographic waveguide within the water column, preferentially funneling acoustic energy between the thermocline depressions.     

浅水时变多途信道特性分析与模型实验研究

时变多途水声信道是影响水声通信性能的一个重要因素,深入了解水声信道挣性并对水声信道进行建模具有重要的研究意义。本文在分析传统时变信道模型基础上,从时域角度出发,提出采用AR(ρ)模型对已有的浅水时变多途信道模型中的小尺度衰落分量进行修正。然后基于莲花湖实测信道数据,分析了时变信道各个路径的幅度、时延、时间相干系数、系统传递函数等特性,并对修正模型进行了验证正。从仿真结果来看,修正模型与试验结果拟合的很好。本文从多个方面对水声信道特性进行了分析,有助于对水声信道的深入了解,同时为水声通信系统性能评估提供了一种仿真信道模型。     

Examination of time-reversal acoustics in shallow water and applications to noncoherent underwater communications

The shallow water acoustic communication channel is characterized by strong signal degradation caused by multipath propagation and high spatial and temporal variability of the channel conditions. At the receiver, multipath propagation causes intersymbol interference and is considered the most important of the channel distortions. This paper examines the application of time-reversal acoustic (TRA) arrays, i.e., phase-conjugated arrays (PCAs), that generate a spatio-temporal focus of acoustic energy at the receiver location, eliminating distortions introduced by channel propagation. This technique is self-adaptive and automatically compensates for environmental effects and array imperfections without the need to explicitly characterize the environment. An attempt is made to characterize the influences of a PCA design on its focusing properties with particular attention given to applications in noncoherent underwater acoustic communication systems. Due to the PCA spatial diversity focusing properties, PC arrays may have an important role in an acoustic local area network. Each array is able to simultaneously transmit different messages that will focus only at the destination receiver node.     

Temporal coherence of acoustic rays and modes using the path integral approach

Acoustic propagation can be described by rays and normal modes. Applying the path integral to refractive rays in three dimensional space, Dashen et al. [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 77, 1716-1722 (1985)] derived the mutual coherence function of the acoustic field. For shallow water where sound interacts with boundaries, the acoustic field can be described by vertical modes and horizontal rays. Applying the path integral to the horizontal rays, one obtains the mutual coherence function of the normal modes. This paper applies this formulation to the derivation of the temporal coherence function of individual modes and also that of the acoustic field in the presence of linear internal waves. The effects of mode coupling due to internal waves on temporal coherence loss are illustrated with numerical calculations.     

Source motion detection, estimation, and compensation for underwater acoustics inversion by wideband ambiguity lag-Doppler filtering

Acoustic channel properties in a shallow water environment with moving source and receiver are difficult to investigate. In fact, when the source-receiver relative position changes, the underwater environment causes multipath and Doppler scale changes on the transmitted signal over low-to-medium frequencies (300 Hz-20 kHz). This is the result of a combination of multiple paths propagation, source and receiver motions, as well as sea surface motion or water column fast changes. This paper investigates underwater acoustic channel properties in a shallow water (up to 150 m depth) and moving source-receiver conditions using extracted time-scale features of the propagation channel model for low-to-medium frequencies. An average impulse response of one transmission is estimated using the physical characteristics of propagation and the wideband ambiguity plane. Since a different Doppler scale should be considered for each propagating signal, a time-warping filtering method is proposed to estimate the channel time delay and Doppler scale attributes for each propagating path. The proposed method enables the estimation of motion-compensated impulse responses, where different Doppler scaling factors are considered for the different time delays. It was validated for channel profiles using real data from the BASE'07 experiment conducted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Undersea Research Center in the shallow water environment of the Malta Plateau, South Sicily. This paper provides a contribution to many field applications including passive ocean tomography with unknown natural sources position and movement. Another example is active ocean tomography where sources motion enables to rapidly cover one operational area for rapid environmental assessment and hydrophones may be drifting in order to avoid additional flow noise.     

Impact of ocean variability on coherent underwater acoustic communications during the Kauai [corrected] experiment (KauaiEx)

During the July 2003 acoustic communications experiment conducted in 100 m deep water off the western side of Kauai, Hawaii, a 10 s binary phase shift keying signal with a symbol rate of 4 kilosymbol/s was transmitted every 30 min for 27 h from a bottom moored source at 12 kHz center frequency to a 16 element vertical array spanning the water column at about 3 km range. The communications signals are demodulated by time reversal multichannel combining followed by a single channel decision feedback equalizer using two subsets of array elements whose channel characteristics appear distinct: (1) top 10 and (2) bottom 4 elements. Due to rapid channel variations, continuous channel updates along with Doppler tracking are required prior to time reversal combining. This is especially true for the top 10 elements where the received acoustic field involves significant interaction with the dynamic ocean surface. The resulting communications performance in terms of output signal-to-noise ratio exhibits significant change over the 27 h transmission duration. This is particularly evident as the water column changes from well-mixed to a downward refracting environment.     

Intersymbol interference in underwater acoustic communications using time-reversal signal processing

Coherent underwater communication is hampered by the time spread inherent to acoustic propagation in the ocean. Because time-reversal signal processing produces pulse compression, communications has been suggested as a natural application of the technique. Passive versions of time-reversal processing use a receive-only array to do combined temporal and spatial matched filtering. It can be shown, however, that the pulse compression it achieves is not perfect and that an equalizer that relies solely on time-reversal processing will have an error floor caused by uncompensated intersymbol interference (ISI). In the present paper, a physics-based model is developed for the uncompensated ISI in a passive time-reversal equalizer. The model makes use of a normal-mode expansion for the acoustic field. The matched-filtering integral is approximated and the intermediate result interpreted using the waveguide invariant. After combining across the array and sampling, formal statistical averages of the soft demodulation output are calculated. The results show how performance scales with bandwidth, with the number and position of array elements, and with the length of the finite impulse response matched filters. Good agreement is obtained between the predicted scaling and that observed in field experiments.     

Overview of channel models for underwater wireless communication networks

Acoustic communication in Underwater Wireless Communication Networks (UWCNs) has several challenges due to the presence of fading, multipath and refractive properties of the sound channel which necessitate the development of precise underwater channel models. Some existing channel models are simplified and do not consider multipath or multipath fading. In this paper, a detailed survey on ray-theory-based multipath Rayleigh underwater channel models for underwater wireless communication is presented and the research challenges for an efficient communication in this environment are outlined. These channel models are valid for shallow or deep water. They are based on acoustic propagation physics which captures different propagation paths of sound in the underwater and consider all the effects of shadow zones, multipath fading, operating frequency, depth and water temperature. The propagation characteristics are shown through mathematical analysis. Transmission losses between transceivers are investigated through simulations. Further simulations are carried out to study the bit error rate effects and the maximum internode distances for different networks and depths considering a 16-QAM modulation scheme with OFDM as the multicarrier transmission technique. The effect of weather season and the variability of ocean environmental factors such as water temperature on the communication performance are also shown. The mathematical analysis and simulations highlight important considerations for the deployment and operation of UWCNs.     

Analysis of acoustic channels with a time-evolving sinusoidal surface

Sea-surface movement in the ocean induces a time-varying acoustic channel which affects underwater system including acoustic communication. For an investigation of surface movement effects on communication channel parameters (delay time, amplitude, etc.), acoustic transmission and reception experiments were conducted in the water tank. The delay time and amplitude of single surface bounce path from the measurement data show periodic time dependence, which is caused by a travelling periodic sinusoidal surface. A ray-based propagation model is applied to the experimental environment to estimate communication channel parameters. A comparison between measurement data and model result permit a physical interpretation of the communication channel parameters. The difference of single surface bounce path delay times from the model and measurement data are within small error bound. The delay times oscillate around the delay time of single surface bounce path when the surface is flat and show the periodic sine function. The amplitudes from the model are in agreement with those from the measurement data except at low amplitude region. Slight angle and frequency dependencies of source and receiver and noise in the water tank account for the disagreement in this region. Since the crest and trough of surface wave respectively make the acoustic energy emitted from the source converge and diverge, the amplitudes have high fluctuation and same phase with the delay time. The ray model is applied to an environment in the ocean. A striation pattern appears in surface reflected signal due to shadow zone on the surface.     

强非线性时间演化声速剖面的序贯反演

受海面波浪起伏、降雨和内波等海洋动力学过程的影响,浅水声速剖面的时间演化具有高度非线性,针对该问题提出使用改进的粒子滤波方法进行声速剖面序贯反演.该方法通过建立声速剖面的经验正交模型(EOF)以及描述声速剖面时间演化特征的状态空间模型,将声速剖面反演问题建模为状态跟踪问题,利用不敏粒子滤波(UPF:Uncented Particle Filter)算法进行声速剖面序贯反演。仿真试验通过实测声速剖面数据和先验地声参数信息产生接收声场数据,再利用模拟声场数据估计声速剖面的时间变化.结果表明,相比于集合卡尔曼滤波(EnKF:Ensemble Kalman Filter),在计算效率等同的情形下,该方法可以在状态参数的时间跳变点保持良好的跟踪性能,一定程度上克服了现有反演算法在跳变点发散的问题,可以有效提高声速剖面反演精度,尤其在声速剖面时变性较强时具有显著优势.      

水下声学浮标南中国海海洋环境噪声实测分析*

海洋环境噪声是多种自然噪声和人为噪声的复杂组合,其谱级大小和频率组成是影响声纳系统探测性能的重要参数,由于海洋环境噪声时空域特性是非常复杂的,因此需要对海洋环境噪声进行长时间和大范围的观测才足以分析其特性。本文通过在多剖面水下浮标平台基础上集成声学测量系统,研制出了一种具有海洋环境噪声监测能力的水下声学浮标平台,该浮标平台可多次上浮、下潜,具备原位坐底和定深漂流两种工作模式,能够连续观测海洋环境噪声时长多达几个月。利用2019年8月在南海海区组织的多台水下声学浮标组网试验数据,分析了不同频率海洋环境噪声谱级随时间变化特性,数据处理结果符合海洋环境噪声典型变化规律,试验表明,水下声学浮标可作为一种潜在的优势水下无人移动平台,用于长期监测海洋环境噪声特性。     

浅海环境下数据同化声层析方法研究

讨论了适用于浅海的基于声速局部测量模型、声传播模型及声压场局部测量模型的声学数据同化方法,并给出了具体的执行算法。该算法根据最优化准则把局部声速和声压场的先验测量信息,以及声传播模型进行了有效地融合,提高了海洋环境参数估计的精度,为浅海声层析提供了新思路。同时,利用实验浅海声速测量数据,通过经验正交函数对实际海洋声速剖面进行了估计,并分析了各类噪声对水体声速场及海底声学参数估计精度的影响,验证了该执行算法的有效性。      

Travel-time tomography in shallow water: experimental demonstration at an ultrasonic scale

Acoustic tomography in a shallow ultrasonic waveguide is demonstrated at the laboratory scale between two source-receiver arrays. At a 1/1,000 scale, the waveguide represents a 1.1-km-long, 52-m-deep ocean acoustic channel in the kilohertz frequency range. Two coplanar arrays record the transfer matrix in the time domain of the waveguide between each pair of source-receiver transducers. A time-domain, double-beamforming algorithm is simultaneously performed on the source and receiver arrays that projects the multi-reflected acoustic echoes into an equivalent set of eigenrays, which are characterized by their travel times and their launch and arrival angles. Travel-time differences are measured for each eigenray every 0.1 s when a thermal plume is generated at a given location in the waveguide. Travel-time tomography inversion is then performed using two forward models based either on ray theory or on the diffraction-based sensitivity kernel. The spatially resolved range and depth inversion data confirm the feasibility of acoustic tomography in shallow water. Comparisons are made between inversion results at 1 and 3 MHz with the inversion procedure using ray theory or the finite-frequency approach. The influence of surface fluctuations at the air-water interface is shown and discussed in the framework of shallow-water ocean tomography.     

多频带水声信道的时频联合稀疏估计

多频带水声信道多径结构在相邻数据块和不同子频带存在相关性,从分布式压缩感知的角度可对这种时频联合稀疏特性进行利用。但是,在传统联合稀疏模型下水声信道间存在的不同多径时延部分形成差异支撑集,由此引入的干扰导致估计性能下降,提出利用多路径选择机制进行差异支撑集检测;同时,进一步结合频域子频带信道间、时域相邻数据块信道间存在的相关性进行频带-时间域联合稀疏估计.利用数值仿真及海试实验结果进行了性能验证和比较,表明利用时频联合稀疏估计构造的水声通信接收机改善了匹配性能,可获得较为明显的输出信噪比、误比特率等通信性能提升.从而说明:利用多频带水声信道在时域、频域存在的联合相关性可有效提高信道估计性能。      

MFSK浅海远程通信多径抑制的频率分组编码方法

多频移键控调制技术（MFSK）对信道衰落有良好的适应性，是远程水声通信的重要技术。但是，用于浅海远程水声通信时，由于多径传播的影响，导致严重的码间干扰（ISI），使得远程微弱信号的频率估计产生较大偏差，误码率显著增加。本文针对远程水下信道和MFSK调制的特点，提出了一种新的频率分组编码（FGC）方法。该方法改变了传统MFSK的数据帧格式，相邻符号采用不同组的频率进行编码映射，有效抑制了多径干扰。在深入研究新方法统计特性的基础上进行了湖试验证，结果表明，采用FGC新方法的通信系统，多径抑制有效，性能稳健，更适合于80-100km水声远程通信。     

Cross-correlation in band-limited ocean ambient noise fields

Observations of ambient noise in the ocean are generally band limited, because of the natural spectral shape of the noise or the restricted bandwidth of the detection system. Either way, the noise may be regarded as white noise to which a band-limiting filter has been applied. An analysis of the two-point cross-correlation function of such filtered noise is presented for two cases, isotropic and surface-generated noise. The most pronounced effects occur with high-pass and bandpass filters when the low-frequency cut-off falls well above the first few zeros in the coherence function. In this situation, the sensor separation is very many times the longest acoustic wavelength (associated with the lowest frequency) in the passband. The filtering then produces sharp pulses at correlation delays equal to the numerical value of the acoustic travel time between the sensors. Although these pulses are narrow, they have a finite width, within which a fine structure appears in the form of multiple rapid oscillations, due to the differentiating action of the filter. The number of such oscillations increases as the low-frequency roll-off of the filter becomes steeper. This fine structure is evident in several recently published experimental determinations of the cross-correlation function of band-limited ocean ambient noise.