The possibility of using the equivalent plane wave model to increase the efficiency of taking bearings of low-frequency signals in shallow water

The possibility of approximating the sound field in the region of interference maxima using the equivalent plane wave model with the actual amplitude and the average ??effective?? phase velocity calculated or measured by the phase gradient at the array aperture is discussed. The method is substantiated by studying the mode, interference, and phase structures of the low-frequency sound field along with the spatial responses of an extended linear array. For bottom-moored or towed geophysical arrays whose sizes are large compared to the wavelength, both the necessity and the possibility of reducing the error in taking the bearing of a sound source in a waveguide are justified. The use of the proposed model is recommended for approximate matching of the array to the transfer function of the waveguide to reduce the bearing error.     

Optimum array design to maximize Fisher information for bearing estimation

Source bearing estimation is a common application of linear sensor arrays. The Cramer-Rao bound (CRB) sets a lower bound on the achievable mean square error (MSE) of any unbiased bearing estimate. In the spatially white noise case, the CRB is minimized by placing half of the sensors at each end of the array. However, many realistic ocean environments have a mixture of both white noise and spatially correlated noise. In shallow water environments, the correlated ambient noise can be modeled as cylindrically isotropic. This research designs a fixed aperture linear array to maximize the bearing Fisher information (FI) under these noise conditions. The FI is the inverse of the CRB, so maximizing the FI minimizes the CRB. The elements of the optimum array are located closer to the array ends than uniform spacing, but are not as extreme as in the white noise case. The optimum array results from a trade off between maximizing the array bearing sensitivity and minimizing output noise power variation over the bearing. Depending on the source bearing, the resulting improvement in MSE performance of the optimized array over a uniform array is equivalent to a gain of 2-5 dB in input signal-to-noise ratio.     

利用宽带声场频率-掠射角干涉结构的深海直达声区目标深度估计方法

针对典型深海环境中宽带声源的深度分辨问题,通过研究深海声场随频率起伏的干涉结构与垂直线阵频域波束输出图中的干涉结构,给出一种直达声区内可区分多水下目标的宽带声源深度估计方法。该方法以近水面目标的射线声场模型为基础,推导出近海面宽带声源接收声场的波束输出表达式,阐明了频域波束输出图中干涉结构与声源深度的对应关系。然后利用改进的傅里叶变换方法将二维频域波束输出图映射到声源深度-掠射角度域,可实现声源深度信息的有效分离。最后开展了深海实验验证,利用垂直阵接收拖曳声源发射的宽带白噪声信号,拖曳声源深度计算结果与实测声源深度基本一致。数值仿真与实验结果均表明该方法可以在多目标复杂环境下准确估计出水下宽带声源的深度。      

The problem of phasing linear hydrophone arrays lying on a shallow ocean bottom

The problem of phasing linear hydrophone arrays lying on the bottom of the Barents Sea is discussed by using the results of a full-scale experiment. In the experiment, a pulsed pressure source was used as a source of sound and three linear hydrophone arrays positioned at different sites served as receivers. For signals at the array’s apertures, the spatial correlation interval is estimated. Output responses of the arrays are compared with and without allowance for the spatial correlation interval of the sound field.     

A study on the random array generation method for moving sound source identification

Based on the problem that the generating method of random array structure is inefficient,a method is proposed to generate the random target arrays by using coaxial circular array in the polar coordinates in the premise that the array angular resolution of source identification is guaranteed.According to the principle of moving sound source identification,this work deduces the basic non-equidistance coaxial circular rings'radius,and generates target random arrays which were suitable for moving sound source identification through array partitioning,condition filtering in the polar coordinates and simulation evaluation.Finally,numerical simulation and moving car sound source identification test have been done.The analytical results show that using this method to generate random array is effective.Compared with the traditional regular arrays,the target random array has more accurate moving sound source identification performance.     

识别运动声源随机阵列生成法研究

针对随机阵列结构设计方面欠缺高效的生成方法这一问题,在保证阵列对声源识别精度的前提下,提出一种在极坐标下用于识别运动声源的随机阵列生成方法。根据声阵列识别运动声源的原理,推导了非等间距基本同轴圆环的半径,再通过降列分区、极坐标下条件筛选和模拟评价三个步骤,生成适用于识别运动声源的目标随机阵列,最后进行数值模拟和运动汽车噪声源识别实验进行验证。研究结果表明,用该方法能够高效地生成目标随机阵列,与常用规则阵列相比具有更良好的声源识别特性,并且具有准确的运动声源识别性能。      

基于拖曳倾斜线列阵的海底反射损失提取方法

在浅海环境中,海底声学参数对水下声场的精确预报十分重要.现有的海底声学参数反演方法大多数是采用固定垂直阵进行的,其缺点是不能实施大面积、高分辨的走航式反演.在已提出的垂直阵海底反射损失反演方法的基础上,研究了基于三种线列阵阵形的海底反射损失提取方法及其特点,提出了基于拖曳倾斜线列阵与三个声源组合的走航式海底参数快速获取方法,并对该方法进行了误差分析.研究结果表明：覆盖同样的掠射角范围,垂直线列阵需与多个距离的声源组合,拖曳水平线列阵只需一个声源组合但需要采用较大的物理孔径,拖曳倾斜线列阵综合了垂直阵和水平 关键词： 水下声场预报 海底声学参数 海底反射损失 拖曳倾斜线列阵     

基于遗传算法的不等间距阵优化方法

阵元数一定情况下,针对不等间距拖线阵高频信号处理存在的空间增益和无栅瓣兼容问题,提出一种基于遗传算法的不等间距拖线阵阵型优化方法。该方法以频带交互下最大旁瓣级最小作为约束因子,通过模拟生物自然进化过程搜索全局最优解,得到优化后的阵元位置。优化后阵型在保证低频信号处理空间增益不变情况下,实现对高频信号高空间增益、无栅瓣处理。计算机仿真结果表明：相比未优化阵型,在高频信号处理方面,优化后阵型在无栅瓣情况下,空间增益提升值近似理论值提升值;在低频信号处理方面,优化后阵型具有相同的空间增益。为实际不等间距拖线阵阵型优化和应用提供了一种思路。     

阵元间互辐射对基阵指向性的影响研究及试验

针对常规基阵指向性图计算并未考虑阵元间互辐射阻抗影响这一不足,修正了常规基阵指向性图计算公式。将阵元间的互辐射阻抗引入到水声基阵的辐射声场计算中,并依据叠加原理得到包含阵元间互辐射阻抗的基阵指向性图计算修正公式。15元均匀线列阵和5×5均匀平面阵的计算机仿真和消声水池试验结果表明,该修正公式相比于常规公式更能反映基阵指向性图的真实情况。      

脉冲天线阵列时域辐射场快速计算的简化方法

采用有源单元方向图思想，在考虑互耦情况下，将大型脉冲阵列天线各单元的时域方向图用相似环境下小型阵列的有源单元方向图来等效，进而叠加计算辐射总场。以此为基础，结合时域辐射原理改进了上述方法。通过公式推导得出:一个大型线阵或大型平面阵的时域辐射场可分别通过两个小型线阵或四个小型平面阵的时域辐射总场计算得到，避免了传统方法中小阵有源单元方向图逐元提取的繁琐操作。采用上述方法分别计算了一个13元线阵和一个1113元平面阵列，计算结果与软件仿真结果吻合良好，与传统的小阵外推方法相比，直线阵列和平面阵列的计算量分别减少了56.8%和81.17%。     

Tracking sperm whales with a towed acoustic vector sensor

Passive acoustic towed linear arrays are increasingly used to detect marine mammal sounds during mobile anthropogenic activities. However, these arrays cannot resolve between signals arriving from the port or starboard without vessel course changes or multiple cable deployments, and their performance is degraded by vessel self-noise and non-acoustic mechanical vibration. In principle acoustic vector sensors can resolve these directional ambiguities, as well as flag the presence of non-acoustic contamination, provided that the vibration-sensitive sensors can be successfully integrated into compact tow modules. Here a vector sensor module attached to the end of a 800 m towed array is used to detect and localize 1813 sperm whale "clicks" off the coast of Sitka, AK. Three methods were used to identify frequency regimes relatively free of non-acoustic noise contamination, and then the active intensity (propagating energy) of the signal was computed between 4-10 kHz along three orthogonal directions, providing unambiguous bearing estimates of two sperm whales over time. These bearing estimates are consistent with those obtained via conventional methods, but the standard deviations of the vector sensor bearing estimates are twice those of the conventionally-derived bearings. The resolved ambiguities of the bearings deduced from vessel course changes match the vector sensor predictions.     

浅海非均匀水平阵宽带声场信号无源孔径扩展

大孔径水平阵对于浅海低频水声物理实验研究和应用至关重要,然而受实际情况制约,通常使用的水平基阵孔径十分有限,通过孔径扩展处理来扩展基阵孔径是一条重要途径。传统的无源孔径扩展方法是建立在均匀线阵、匀速相对运动和相干窄带连续信号的基础上的,难以适用于非均匀阵以及非连续宽带声源的情况。针对这些问题,提出了非均匀阵宽带声场信号的无源孔径扩展方法。使用静止布设在海底的非均匀水平短阵接收运动声源重复发射的宽带声信号,先开展均匀空间插值,然后在阵元域和波束域进行宽带扩展孔径处理。仿真和实验结果表明,在水深约70 m的浅海波导环境中,纵向间隔27.5 m的2个阵元接收20~200 Hz宽带声场,其空间插值结果与真值的相关系数大于0.99,说明宽带声场插值方法的合理性。在水平非均匀、纵向孔径250 m的短阵接收声场无法分析简正波频散特征的情况下,仿真和实验数据经过宽带无源孔径扩展处理得到孔径大于1 km的均匀线阵的声场,能高分辨区分各阶简正波,证明所提方法是有效的。      

A passive synthetic aperture phase correction algorithm for the asymmetric twin-line array sonar

A passive synthetic aperture based on phase correction algorithm for solving the port-starboard discrimination problem in the non-aligned towed twin-line array sonar,is de- scribed.This method creates a virtual array through applying the estimated phase correction into one array of twin-line arrays.Because the synthetic virtual array is aligned with the other array in twin-line arrays,the right port-starboard discriminated results can be obtained by array processing based on the new synthetic twin-line array.The effect of proposed method has been shown by simulated and sea-trials results in towed twin-line array sonar.With low extra computational loads,the proposed method is easy to apply to the practice.     

Active noise control with linear control source and sensor arrays for a noise barrier

A study is conducted on minimizing the sum of the squared acoustic pressures with a linear array of control sources and a perpendicular linear array of error sensors, placed above the top of a noise barrier. Particular angular orientations, with respect to the center of the barrier top, and spacings of the linear arrays of control sources and error sensors result in moderate to significant additional reduction of the acoustic pressure in the shadow zone. Visual inspection of the sound pressure field, with and without active noise control, found that uniform and significant additional insertion loss can be generated near the barrier. Numerical simulations were conducted to test the proposed method. For separations between control sources and error sensors much less than a quarter wavelength of the primary noise disturbance, results show that the angular orientation, of the combined linear control source and sensor arrays, is a weak factor for acoustic pressure reduction in the shadow zone. Weak angle dependence serves as an advantage to the proposed method, which yields uniform performance for any angular orientation. An angular orientation involving the alignment of the furthest error sensor with the first diffracting edge of the barrier and the primary source was observed to perform well for a variety of frequencies, since the spacing between error sensors and between control sources is of the order of a quarter-wavelength. Improved noise control in the shadow zone of a barrier is achieved by the use of two control sources and angular orientation as mentioned above. Further spatial extension of the area of reduced acoustic pressure is possible by utilizing an increased number of control sources.     

Range-dependent seabed characterization by inversion of acoustic data from a towed receiver array

The MAPEX2000 experiments were conducted in the Mediterranean Sea in March, 2000 to determine seabed properties using a towed acoustic source and receiver array. Towed systems are advantageous because they are easy to deploy from a ship and the moving platform offers the possibility for estimating spatially variable (range-dependent) seabed properties. In this paper, seabed parameters are determined using a matched-field geoacoustic inversion approach with measured, towed array data. Previous research has successfully applied matched-field geoacoustic inversion techniques to measured acoustic data. However, in nearly all cases the inverted data were collected on moored, vertical receiver arrays. Results here show that seabed parameters can also be extracted by inverting acoustic measurements from a towed array of receivers, and these agree with those inverted using data received simultaneously on a vertical array. These findings imply that a practical technique could be developed to map range-dependent seabed parameters over large areas using a towed acoustic system. An example of such a range-dependent inversion is given using measurements from the MAPEX2000 experiments.     

Hybrid geoacoustic inversion of broadband Mediterranean Sea data

This paper describes an acoustic experiment (PROSIM'97) carried out to investigate inversion for seabed properties at a site off the west coast of Italy where previous acoustic and geophysical studies have been performed. Acoustic fields were measured at a vertical hydrophone array due to a swept-frequency source towed over weakly range-dependent bathymetry. Based on the known geology, the seabed is modeled as a sediment layer overlying a semi-infinite basement with unknown model parameters consisting of the sediment thickness, sediment and basement sound speeds, source range and depth, water depth at the source and array, and array tilt. A hybrid inversion algorithm is applied to determine the model values that minimize the mismatch with the measured acoustic fields. Multiple data sets are analyzed to examine the consistency of the inversion results. It is found that the low sound speed of the sediment layer, together with a large uncertainty in bathymetry, leads to strong correlations between the water depths and sediment thickness. This precludes reliable estimation of these parameters individually; however, the total depth to the basement can be estimated reliably. In addition, the basement speed and geometric parameters are estimated consistently, and all parameters compare favorably with the geophysical ground-truth information and with previous inversion results.     

拖曳线列阵声呐平台噪声的空域矩阵滤波抑制技术

针对拖曳线列阵声呐平台噪声构成近场强干扰影响声呐弱目标探测的问题,利用近场平台噪声的多途传播特性,将匹配场定位技术和平面波目标方位估计技术结合,使用平台噪声到达接收阵的拷贝向量以及平面波方向向量共同设计平台噪声零响应约束空域矩阵滤波器,实现了平台噪声抑制.推导得出滤波器设计最优化问题的最优解,利用广义奇异值分解简化最优解表达式,并给出滤波器对平面波方向向量整体响应误差以及对平台噪声拷贝向量响应。利用平台噪声拷贝向量与远场平面波方向向量相关性,解释了平台噪声构成强干扰的原因,以及滤波后存在探测盲区的原因。由仿真可知,空域矩阵滤波处理可获得更小的探测盲区,同时获得盲区外更高的探测能力.      

Minimally radiating sources for personal audio

In order to reduce annoyance from the audio output of personal devices, it is necessary to maintain the sound level at the user position while minimizing the levels elsewhere. If the dark zone, within which the sound is to be minimized, extends over the whole far field of the source, the problem reduces to that of minimizing the radiated sound power while maintaining the pressure level at the user position. It is shown analytically that the optimum two-source array then has a hypercardioid directivity and gives about 7 dB reduction in radiated sound power, compared with a monopole producing the same on-axis pressure. The performance of other linear arrays is studied using monopole simulations for the motivating example of a mobile phone. The trade-off is investigated between the performance in reducing radiated noise, and the electrical power required to drive the array for different numbers of elements. It is shown for both simulations and experiments conducted on a small array of loudspeakers under anechoic conditions, that both two and three element arrays provide a reasonable compromise between these competing requirements. The implementation of the two-source array in a coupled enclosure is also shown to reduce the electrical power requirements.     

Adaptive beamforming for nonstationary arrays

Adaptive beamformers automatically adjust to the input data on the sensors in an attempt to maximize the bearing resolution of a signal and minimize the effects of noise or interfering signals. To the author's knowledge, all adaptive beamformers currently available in the literature assume that the sensors are stationary over the time required to collect the data. This assumption is invalid on arrays of sensors mounted on nonstationary platforms, and results in poor beamforming performance. In this paper we present an adaptive beamformer that has been designed to operate on nonstationary arrays. The beamformer directly incorporates any changes in array shape or heading that may occur during the time required to collect the data. The output of the adaptive beamformer is shown for both synthetic data and for real data collected on a towed array. Results show that signal detection, bearing accuracy, bearing resolution, and interference suppression all increase when the array shape and track are incorporated into the beamformer if the sensor platform is not stationary.     

Acoustic positioning using multiple microphone arrays

Passive acoustic techniques are presented to solve the localization problem of a sound source in three-dimensional space using off-the-shelf hardware. Multiple microphone arrays are employed, which operate independently, in estimating the direction of arrival of sound, or, equivalently, a direction vector from the array's geometric center towards the source. Direction vectors and array centers are communicated to a central processor, where the source is localized by finding the intersection of the direction lines defined by the direction vectors and the associated array centers. The performance of the method in the air is demonstrated experimentally and compared with a state-of-the-art method that requires centralized digitization of the signals from the microphones of all the arrays.