Passive reverberation nulling for target enhancement

Echo-to-reverberation enhancement previously has been demonstrated using time reversal focusing when knowledge of the channel response between a target and the source array elements is available. In the absence of this knowledge, direct focusing is not possible. However, active reverberation nulling still is feasible given observations of reverberation from conventional source array transmissions. For a given range of interest, the response between the source array elements and the dominant sources of boundary reverberation is provided by the corresponding reverberation from this range. Thus, an active transmission can be projected from the source array which minimizes the energy interacting with the boundaries at a given range while still ensonifying the waveguide between the boundaries. As an alternative, here a passive reverberation nulling concept is proposed. In a similar fashion, the observed reverberation defines the response between the source array elements and the dominant sources of boundary reverberation at each range and this is used to drive a range-dependent sequence of projection operators. When these projection operators subsequently are applied to the received data vectors, reverberation can be diminished. The improvement in target detectability is demonstrated using experimental data with an echo repeater simulating the presence of a target.     

Combination of time reversal and synthetic aperture beamforming for active detection of small bottom objects in waveguide environments

To enhance detection of small targets, the combination of time reversal processing (TRP) and synthetic aperture beamforming (SABF) is investigated. With the spatial–temporal focusing, the potential application of TRP for active detection has been demonstrated [Kim S, Kuperman WA, Hodgkiss WS. Echo-to reverberation enhancement using a time reversal mirror. J Acoust Soc Am 2004;115(4):1525–31]. When a physical probe source (PS) replaced by a modeled source (MS), the “potential” is turned into being more practical. Similar to matched field processing, the robustness of TRP with MS needs to be considered. Meanwhile by the improvement of the extended towed array measurement (ETAM) algorithm of passive SABF, a segmented ETAM algorithm is discussed for its use in active sonar. With the echo-signal enhancement by time reversal transmission, the echo-to-reverberation ratio is further improved by SABF. Finally a matched filter is used to detect the target and the range of the target is estimated by the time delay referenced to the transmission time. The results of the waveguide tank experiment demonstrate that the TRP–SABF method can effectively detect and locate a bottom cylinder shell of 0.51 m long and 0.21 m in diameter.     

Buried target detection based on time reversal focusing with a probe source

Buried target detection under the background of strong reverberation in shallow water is a complicated problem. As the target is buried, the echo of the active sonar is very weak and the echo-to-reverberation ratio (ERR) is quite low. In the paper, the technique of time reversal (TR) with a probe source is discussed to detect a buried target. By TR transmission, the sound wave is focused at the target and the ensonification acoustic energy at the target is maximized. By reception focusing, the echo received by each sensor is added coherently and the waveform of the transmitted signal is recovered. Finally, the matched filtering is used to detect the target and estimate the target range. The waveguide experiment provides a practical implementation guideline to apply TR to buried target detection.     

Time reversed reverberation focusing in a waveguide

Time reversal mirrors have been applied to focus energy at probe source locations and point scatterers in inhomogeneous media. In this paper, we investigate the application of a time reversal mirror to rough interface reverberation processing in a waveguide. The method is based on the decomposition of the time reversal operator which is computed from the transfer matrix measured on a source-receiver array [Prada et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 99, 2067-2076 (1996)]. In a similar manner, reverberation data collected on a source-receiver array can be filtered through an appropriate temporal window to form a time reversal operator. The most energetic eigenvector of the time reversal operator focuses along the interface at the range corresponding to the filter delay. It is also shown that improved signal-to-noise ratio measurement of the time reversal operator can be obtained by ensonifying the water column with a set of orthogonal array beams. Since these methods do not depend upon a priori environmental information, they are applicable to complex shallow water environments. Numerical simulations with a Pekeris waveguide demonstrate this method.     

强混响背景下悬浮目标的时反成像

提出了一种加权宽带全信号子空间时反成像方法,将扩展性目标建模为有限数量个、相互独立的点散射体构成,实现了时反成像在可疑目标区域的全信号子空间和整个宽带的累加。在实验室波导水池中,底部放置圆柱筒制造混响背景,共进行了两个实验,一是扩展性的悬浮目标位于圆柱筒附近,其回波与圆柱筒反射的混响不在同一个时间窗内,二是弱点目标回波与圆柱筒反射的混响重叠于同一个时间窗内,对所提出的方法进行强混响背景下弱悬浮目标的成像能力验证。结果表明,此方法对强混响背景下的弱悬浮目标的成像质量明显优于传统的时反成像方法。      

Time reversal imaging of suspended target in strong reverberation

The weighted wideband time-reversal imaging approach of full signal subspaces was proposed.The extended target is modeled as an infinite number of independent point-like scatterers,and the imaging is constructed by accumulating all time-reversal images over all signal subspaces and the entire bandwidth in the region of suspected targets.On the bottom of a laboratory water waveguide,a cylindrical shell was used to produce reverberation.Two experiments were carried out.The first experiment is that an extended target was suspended near the cylindrical shell,whose echo and the reverberation reflected by the cylindrical shell were in different time windows.The second experiment is that a point-like target was suspended above the cylindrical shell,thus the echo and the reverberation were in the same time window.The experimental results show that the imaging quality of the proposed method is better than that of the conventional time reversal imaging methods for weak suspended targets in a strong reverberation background.     

Experimental detection and focusing in shallow water by decomposition of the time reversal operator

A rigid 24-element source-receiver array in the 10-15 kHz frequency band, connected to a programmable electronic system, was deployed in the Bay of Brest during spring 2005. In this 10- to 18-m-deep environment, backscattered data from submerged targets were recorded. Successful detection and focusing experiments in very shallow water using the decomposition of the time reversal operator (DORT method) are shown. The ability of the DORT method to separate the echo of a target from reverberation as well as the echo from two different targets at 250 m is shown. An example of active focusing within the waveguide using the first invariant of the time reversal operator is presented, showing the enhanced focusing capability. Furthermore, the localization of the scatterers in the water column is obtained using a range-dependent acoustic model.     

Reverberation of Wideband Signals in Shallow Water when Using Sound Focusing

Within the framework of the normal mode approximation, expressions are obtained for calculating bottom reverberation signals recorded by a horizontal array in an inhomogeneous shallow-water waveguide in a wide frequency band. These expressions can be used to simulate bottom-scattered signals both for a monostatic and bistatic geometry, as well as in the case when sound focusing is applied. The constructed model is used to numerically study the structure of bottom reverberation in a waveguide with different parameters and characteristics of the receiver and source systems. The considered bottom inhomogeneities are the slope of the bottom, change in thermocline depth, and wind waves. The study demonstrates the promise of using sound focusing as time reversal using a single receiver–transmitter element to enhance the reverberation signal arriving from a given bottom area.     

Resolution enhancement and separation of reverberation from target echo with the time reversal operator decomposition

Time reversal operator (TRO) decompositions are performed in a model of an ocean wave guide containing a target and having different kinds of bottom. The objective is to study the effects of bottom reverberation and absorption by means of ultrasonic experiments. It is shown experimentally that the echo from a target can be separated from the bottom reverberation. Reverberation eigenvectors are back propagated in the wave guide leading to focus on the bottom. An amplitude correction is applied to both reverberation and signal eigenvectors to compensate for bottom absorption and thus to improve target resolution.     

浅海波导中水平接收阵被动时反混响抑制方法研究

使用基于射线简正波异地混响理论建立的水平接收阵接收海底混响模型,提出了水平阵被动时反混响抑制方法。以水平接收阵接收回波信号的某一时刻作为开始,分别对其前一时刻和后一时刻的回波信号做时反算子分解获得两个混响子空间,将这两个混响子空间的平均作为该时刻的混响子空间的一个估计,然后利用投影处理来抑制该时刻接收信号中的混响成分。该方法可以在一定程度上克服由于海底粗糙引起的局部时间(距离)段内接收回波信号的不平稳性,使得估计得到的混响子空间更加接近真实混响子空间。因此,利用其进行被动时反混响抑制可以增强回波信混比,提高对目标的检测和方位估计能力。针对典型浅海波导环境开展的仿真验证了本文方法的有效性。      

水下目标回波与混响的时频形态特征域盲分离

水下沉底或掩埋目标识别受海底混响干扰严重,并且目标回波与混响在时-频域上均存在混叠,增大了对目标回波与混响的分离难度。根据目标回波与混响的产生机理差异,将图像形态学与时频分析相结合的盲分离算法用于目标回波与混响的分离。推导了目标几何声散射成分与混响在Wigner-Ville时频面的形态特征表达式,利用图像形态学滤波去除Wigner-Ville时频面中的混响及刚性亮点之间交叉项,在时频形态特征域获取解混矩阵,实现了目标回波和混响的分离。仿真与实验数据处理结果表明,结合图像形态学的时频域盲分离算法提高了目标回波信号的信混比。      

Wideband imaging of extended targets with the decomposition of the time reversal operator

The weighted wideband imaging approach of full signal subspaces is proposed based on the decomposition of the time reversal operator(DORT). Although each singular vector of nonzero singular values does not correspond to one of the extended targets any more, the conventional approach of selective time reversal focusing still chooses one of the signal subspaces for imaging. Simultaneously, the time-reversal MUSIC imaging is carried out at a single frequency for wideband signal. The imaging of both methods has a high background fluctuation.In order to overcome these drawbacks, the number of signal subspaces is determined by the singular values of the time reversal operator, and then DORT imaging of full signal subspaces and entire bandwidth is achieved using the generalized reflectivity coefficients as the weighted parameters. The experimental result shows that the sidelobe level of this approach is extremely decreased.     

浅海低频本地海底混响的波导不变性结构及抑制方法研究

根据浅海混响的射线简正波相干混响理论和可分离的海底散射模型,从理论上推导了浅海低频本地海底混响信号中存在的稳定的距离-频率干涉结构(波导不变性结构),并在此基础上基于谱相减的思想提出了一种基于波导不变性的本地海底混响预测对消方法。针对某个检测距离,其对应的中心频率上的海底混响强度可以根据波导不变性通过频移的方法在另一个与之相邻的距离上估计得到,利用该估计的混响强度可以对消检测距离对应的回波信号中的海底混响强度分量,增强回波信混比,提高目标检测能力。针对典型水平分层浅海波导环境,通过计算机仿真实验分析了低频海底混响存在的稳定波导不变性结构,验证了本文提出的基于波导不变性的混响预测对消方法的有效性。      

宽带扩展性目标时反算子分解成像

在时反算子分解技术的基础上,提出了宽带全信号子空间加权成像方法。虽然扩展性目标与时反算子的特征向量不再是一一对应关系,传统的时反选择性聚焦仍然选择某一特定的信号子空间成像,而时反MUSIC只利用某一频点成像,导致定位结果背景起伏较高。为克服这些缺陷,利用时反算子的特征值判断信号子空间的个数,以广义散射系数为加权系数,实现全宽带和全信号子空间成像。结果表明,此方法的旁瓣水平明显下降。      

Revisiting iterative time reversal processing: application to detection of multiple targets

The iterative time reversal processing represents a high speed and easy way to self-focus on the strongest scatterer in a multitarget medium. However, finding weaker scatterers is a more difficult task that can be solved by computing the eigenvalue and eigenvector decomposition of the time reversal operator, the so-called DORT method. Nevertheless, as it requires the measurement of the complete interelements response matrix and time-consuming computation, the separation of multiple targets may not be achieved in real time. In this study, a new real time technique is proposed for multitarget selective focusing that does not require the experimental acquisition of the time reversal operator. This technique achieves the operator decomposition using a particular sequence of filtered waves propagation instead of computational power. Due to its simplicity of implementation, this iterative process can be achieved in real time. This high speed selective focusing is experimentally demonstrated by detecting targets through a heterogeneous medium and in a speckle environment. A theoretical analysis compares this technique to the DORT formalism.     

虚拟时间反转水声信号检测

针对目标辐射声信号特性未知的情况,在不增加额外水声换能器的条件下,研究提高水听器阵列对水声信号检测性能的方法。首先,按照经典二元检测问题处理方法分析了常规能量检测方法的性能,在此基础上,根据虚拟时间反转处理原理,对处理后的信号构建检测统计量,推导得到了虚拟时间反转检测方法的理论门限和检测性能的表达式,并通过与常规能量检测的对比分析了虚拟时间反转检测的处理增益。使用计算机仿真实验从声源频率、接收阵列阵元数、目标距离与深度等方面分析了两种方法的检测性能。结果表明,所提出的算法相对于常规能量检测算法在性能上有显著优势,且接收阵元数是对算法性能影响最为明显的因素。      

基于时反算子分解的时反高分辨率定位技术研究

基于时反算子分解技术,提出了主动时间反转选择性定位方法。为提高此定位方法的分辨率,根据时反算子和协方差矩阵的相似性,提出了时反MUSIC和对角线加载时反MVDR定位技术。传统的获取时反算子的方法是通过单个阵元依次发射,该方法的缺点是每次只有单个元发射,导致输入信噪比较小,本文提出通过多个波束正交发射获取时反算子,能得到较大的输入信噪比,从而改善三种定位方法的定位性能。波导实验分别对三种定位方法和正交发射技术进行了验证,结果显示三种定位算法中,子空间基于的时反MUSIC方法具有较好的定位精度,时反MVDR技术具有较高的分辨率。      

A signal subspace dimension estimator based on F-norm with application to subspace-based multi-channel speech enhancement

Although the signal subspace approach has been studied extensively for speech enhancement,no good solution has been found to identify signal subspace dimension in multichannel situation.This paper presents a signal subspace dimension estimator based on F-norm of correlation matrix,with which subspace-based multi-channel speech enhancement is robust to adverse acoustic environments such as room reverberation and low input signal to noise ratio (SNR).Experiments demonstrate the presented method leads to more noise reduction and less speech distortion comparing with traditional methods.     

Green's function estimation in speckle using the decomposition of the time reversal operator: application to aberration correction in medical imaging

The FDORT method (French acronym for decomposition of the time reversal operator using focused beams) is a time reversal based method that can detect point scatterers in a heterogeneous medium and extract their Green's function. It is particularly useful when focusing in a heterogeneous medium. This paper generalizes the theory of the FDORT method to random media (speckle), and shows that it is possible to extract Green's functions from the speckle signal using this method. Therefore it is possible to achieve a good focusing even if no point scatterers are present. Moreover, a link is made between FDORT and the Van Cittert-Zernike theorem. It is deduced from this interpretation that the normalized first eigenvalue of the focused time reversal operator is a well-known focusing criterion. The concept of an equivalent virtual object is introduced that allows the random problem to be replaced by an equivalent deterministic problem and leads to an intuitive understanding of FDORT in speckle. Applications to aberration correction are presented. The reduction of the variance of the Green's function estimate is discussed. Finally, it is shown that the method works well in the presence of strong interfering scatterers.     

Time reversal of noise sources in a reverberation room

Usually, time reversal is studied with pulsed emissions. Here, the properties of time reversal of the acoustic field emitted by noise sources in a reverberation room are studied numerically, theoretically, and experimentally. A time domain numerical simulation of a two-dimensional enclosure shows that the intensity of a time-reversed noise is strongly enhanced right on the initial source position. A theory based on the link that exists between time reversal of noise and the "well-known" time reversal of short pulse is developed. One infers that the focal spot size equals half a wavelength and the signal to noise ratio only depends on the number of transceivers in the time reversal mirror. This last property is characteristic of the time reversal of noise. Experimental results are obtained in a 5 X 3 X 3 m3 reverberation room. The working frequency range varies from 300 Hz to 2 kHz. The ability of the time reversal process to physically reconstruct the image of two noise sources is studied. To this end, care is given to the technique to separate two close random sources, and also to the influence of temperature fluctuations on the focusing quality.