Acoustic multipath structure in direct zone of deep water and bearing estimation of tow ship noise of towed line array

In the towed line array sonar system, the tow ship noise is the main factor that affects the sonar performance. Conventional noise cancelling methods assume that the noise is towards the endfire direction of the array. An acoustic experiment employing a towed line array is conducted in the western Pacific Ocean, and a strange bearing-splitting phenomenon of the tow ship noise is observed in the array. The tow ship noise is split into multiple noise signals whose bearings are distributed between 10° and 90° deviating from the endfire direction. The multiple interferences increase the difficulty in recognizing the target for the sonar operator and noise cancellation. Therefore, making the mechanism clear and putting forward the tow ship noise splitting bearing estimation method are imperative. In this paper, the acoustic multi-path structure of the tow ship in deep water is analyzed. Then it is pointed out that the bearing-splitting phenomenon is caused by the main lobe of direct rays and bottom-reflected rays, as well as several side lobes of direct rays. Meanwhile, the indistinguishability between the elevation angle and the bearing angle due to the axial symmetry of a strict horizontal line array causes the bearing to deviate from the endfire direction. Based on the theory above, a method of estimating bearing of the tow ship noise in deep water is proposed. The theoretical analysis results accord with the experimental results, which helps to identify the target and provide correct initial bearing guidance for noise cancelation methods.     

矢量水听器拖曳阵的信号模拟器设计

本文中所设计的基于矢量水听器的拖线阵声纳模拟器,仿真了拖线阵的拖船干扰时域信号和空间传播特性,以及矢量水听器偶极子指向性。对于拖船干扰的仿真用Ecs模型来设定宽带功率谱,以AR模型来拟合指定功率谱,利用海底、海面对声场的一次反射作用仿真了拖船干扰的空间多途信道。利用插值滤波器的方法按照设定的时间精度仿真了宽带信号的阵元间精确延时。处理该模拟器所产生阵元时空采样仿真信号而得到的波束形成结果验证了该模拟器的有效性。     

基于线谱特征的三元组拖线阵左右舷分辨

传统的三元组拖线阵在分辨目标左右舷时利用左、右两侧的宽带能量之比,该技术在通常情况下能够较好地完成使命,但在实际应用中可能会遇到一些困难。本文针对两种影响其左右舷分辨结果的情况做了分析:一种是弱信噪比情况,另一种是另一舷侧存在强干扰目标的情况。针对这两种情况,通过对左、右舷频谱特征的分析,提出了利用线谱特征提取结果分辨目标左、右舷的新技术,显著降低了左右舷分辨功能对输入信噪比的要求。仿真和对海上实验数据的处理结果验证了该方法的稳健性和有效性,可望应用于工程实践中。为了使该技术能够适用于更低的信噪比条件,本文还提出了一种简单实用的线谱增强技术。      

基于空时级联滤波的拖船自噪声抵消方法

拖船自噪声属于近场多途强干扰信号,具有显著角度扩展现象,是影响拖曳阵探测性能的重要因素之一。在逆波束形成自噪声抵消方法基础上,结合空域和时域滤波,提出了空时级联滤波的拖船自噪声抵消方法。首先,由方位估计器估计拖船自噪声方位,经过波束形成空域滤波估计得到自噪声信号;然后,利用自噪声空域滤波输出设计最优维纳滤波器,将自噪声抵消在阵元级。基于简正波声场模型的仿真和实际海试数据的处理表明,该方法能够有效抵消拖船自噪声,性能优于逆波束形成方法。     

Statistical estimation of transmission loss from geoacoustic inversion using a towed array

Geoacoustic inversion estimates environmental parameters from measured acoustic fields (e.g., received on a towed array). The inversion results have some uncertainty due to noise in the data and modeling errors. Based on the posterior probability density of environmental parameters obtained from inversion, a statistical estimation of transmission loss (TL) can be performed and a credibility level envelope or uncertainty band for the TL generated. This uncertainty band accounts for the inherent variability of the environment not usually contained in sonar performance prediction model inputs. The approach follows [Gerstoft et al. IEEE J. Ocean. Eng. 31, 299-307 (2006)] and is demonstrated with data obtained from the MAPEX2000 experiment conducted by the NATO Undersea Research Center using a towed array and a moored source in the Mediterranean Sea in November 2000. Based on the geoacoustic inversion results, the TL and its variability are estimated and compared with the measured TL.     

The port/starboard discrimination based on line-spectrum character in towed line array with hydrophone triplets

The energy ratio of broadband signal is utilized for port/starboard discrimination in towed line array with hydrophone triplets in tradition.It works well in most conditions except for two cases:One is low signal to noise ratio(SNR),and the other is that there is a stronger interference lied on the other side of the line array with approximate bearing angles. A method called line-spectrum character extracting is proposed to discriminate port/starboard for these two cases in this paper,and the SNR needed for port/starboard discrimination is reduced significantly.Simulation and the sea-trial data are analyzed to show that the method is stable and valid,and is expected to be applied in real towed line array sonar.A line-spectrum enhancing technology with lower calculation complexity and stable validity is proposed to ensure the application of this method in lower SNR condition.     

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.      

拖曳阵被动合成孔径目标深度稳健估计

使用水下无人平台作为载体的拖曳阵进行被动目标深度估计具有灵活性高和隐蔽性好的优点,针对实际应用中存在的平台自噪声和阵列瞬时随机加速度扰动问题,提出了一种稳健的目标深度估计方法。该方法分为三个步骤,首先对阵元接收信号进行自适应噪声抵消和相位抖动滤波,然后对声压进行距离积分实现简正波模态估计,最后计算模态匹配度,最大值对应的深度为目标深度估计结果。仿真表明在干扰背景下该方法的目标深度估计稳健性优于传统方法,声源频率、合成孔径距离和信干比决定了目标深度估计误差。利用实验数据验证了该方法对水下低频线谱声源的深度估计能力。     

水声信号处理领域新进展

本文介绍近30年来水声信号处理领域理论研究的新进展和在声纳设计中的应用。包括水声信号建模、声场匹配、海洋波导和内波现象的探索和研究、声矢量场信息获取和处理,低频水声信道的时/空相关特性,水下目标辐射噪声的不变特征量提取和检测技术,水下语音、图像传输和抗干扰技术。同时概述,声纳设计的前沿领域:大孔径拖曳线列阵声纳、高分辨力合成孔径声纳、深海传呼机等的发展情况。     

Flow noise of an underwater vector sensor embedded in a flexible towed array

The objective of this work is to simulate the flow noise of a vector sensor embedded in a flexible towed array. The mathematical model developed, based on long-wavelength analysis of the inner space of a cylindrical multipole source, predicts the reduction of the flow noise of a vector sensor embedded in an underwater flexible towed array by means of intensimetric processing (cross-spectral density calculation of oscillatory velocity and sound-pressure-sensor responses). It is found experimentally that intensimetric processing results in flow noise reduction by 12-25 dB at mean levels and by 10-30 dB in fluctuations compared to a squared oscillatory velocity channel. The effect of flow noise suppression in the intensimetry channel relative to a squared sound pressure channel is observed, but only for frequencies above the threshold. These suppression values are 10-15 dB at mean noise levels and 3-6 dB in fluctuations. At towing velocities of 1.5-3 ms(-1) and an accumulation time of 98.3 s, the threshold frequency in fluctuations is between 30 and 45 Hz.     

Tracking sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) dive profiles using a towed passive acoustic array

A passive acoustic method is presented for tracking sperm whale dive profiles, using two or three hydrophones deployed as either a vertical or large-aperture towed array. The relative arrival times between the direct and surface-reflected acoustic paths are used to obtain the ranges and depths of animals with respect to the array, provided that the hydrophone depths are independently measured. Besides reducing the number of hydrophones required, exploiting surface reflections simplifies automation of the data processing. Experimental results are shown from 2002 and 2003 cruises in the Gulf of Mexico for two different towed array deployments. The 2002 deployment consisted of two short-aperture towed arrays separated by 170 m, while the 2003 deployment placed an autonomous acoustic recorder in tandem with a short-aperture towed array, and used ship noise to time-align the acoustic data. The resulting dive profiles were independently checked using single-hydrophone localizations, whenever multipath reflections from the ocean bottom could be exploited to effectively create a large-aperture vertical array. This technique may have applications for basic research and for real-time mitigation for seismic airgun surveys.     

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.     

Detection of Blainville’s beaked whales with towed arrays

The detection performance of a towed hydrophone array for deep-diving species is quantified by comparing detections of echolocation clicks from foraging groups of Blainville’s beaked whales (Mesoplodon densirostris) from the TNO Delphinus array to detections from bottom-mounted hydrophones at the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC) in the Bahamas. A beaked whale group detection probability of 40% is obtained at close ranges (R < 2000 m) with the Delphinus towed array, and a maximum detection range of 5000 m is measured. The detection function can be explained by models, when taking into account the range in rms source levels (200-220 dB re 1 μPa² m²), and the high system noise levels during the experiment. The model results suggest that detection ranges up to about 7 km are possible under favourable conditions, and demonstrate the effectiveness of using towed arrays to monitor deep-diving species, such as beaked whales.     

Waveguide invariant focusing for broadband beamforming in an oceanic waveguide

The performance of broadband sonar array processing can degrade significantly in shallow-water environments when interference becomes angularly spread due to multipath propagation. Particularly for towed line arrays near endfire, elevation angle spreading of multipath interference often results in masking of weaker sources of interest. While adaptive beamforming in a series of narrow frequency bands can suppress coherent multipath interference, this approach requires long observation times to estimate the required narrowband covariance matrices. To form wideband covariance matrices which can be estimated with less observation time, plane-wave focusing methods have been used to avoid interference covariance matrix rank inflation. This paper extends wideband focusing to the case of coherent multipath interference. The approach presented here, called waveguide invariant focusing (WIF), exploits a robust relationship for the frequency dependence of horizontal wave number differences. Unlike matched-field methods, WIF does not model multipath wave fronts but rather makes the interference appear to occupy the same rank-one subspace across frequency. This permits formation of wideband covariance matrices without interference rank inflation. Simulation experiments in a realistic ocean environment indicate that adaptive beamforming using WIF covariance matrices can provide a significant array gain improvement over conventional adaptive methods with limited observation time.     

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.     

基于阵形畸变补偿的多线阵左右舷分辨研究

多线阵可解决单线阵在目标探测中的左右舷分辨模糊问题,但阵形畸变不利于准确实现对目标的左右舷分辨。本文针对多线阵在拖曳过程中出现的典型阵形畸变,定量地分析了其对目标左右舷分辨的影响,并提出了一种基于阵形畸变实时测量补偿来进行目标左右舷分辨的方法,海上实验数据分析结果表明,该方法可实现阵形畸变下的目标左右舷分辨,对于提高拖曳多线阵声纳性能具有参考价值。     

拖线阵机动时的自适应波束形成

提出了一种MVDR(最小方差无失真响应)的改进算法,用以解决常规MVDR算法由于阵形时变而出现的性能下降问题。在获得时变阵形估计数据的基础上,该算法以统计时段内的平均阵形为基准阵形,在每个扫描方向上根据实际阵形和基准阵形的差异对阵列互谱矩阵多样本进行相位补偿,从而实现统计时段内的互谱矩阵多样本相干累加和目标检测。数值仿真与海上实验数据处理结果表明:与传统MVDR算法相比,改进算法有效缓解了时变阵形下的目标测向角度模糊问题,可提高拖线阵目标左右舷分辨性能、增强弱目标检测能力。      

扩展拖曳阵宽带频域逆波束形成技术研究

为了提高扩展拖曳阵在低信噪比下对目标的探测性能,本文将基于扩展拖曳阵方法的被动合成孔径技术与宽带频域逆波束形成技术进行了结合,形成了一种新的被动合成孔径测向技术,有效地提高了扩展拖曳阵技术的探测性能,改善了传统基于被动合成孔径测向技术在低信噪比下性能急剧下降的问题,在低信噪比下获得了更高的方位分辨率,同时对于多目标及弱目标检测能力也更为优异。计算机仿真和海试数据的处理都证明了这一算法的良好性能。     

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     

Investigation of the spatial correlations of flow noise in vector hydrophone towed linear array

Following the wall pressure spectrum of the turbulent boundary layer developed by Corcos, a method in the frequency-wavenumber space was presented to analyze the flow noise in the vector hydrophone towed linear array. The general forms of the acoustic pressure and particle velocity in the flow noise field were obtained, and the spatial correlations of the flow noise were calculated. The numerical analysis results based on wavenumber integration show that： （1） The spatial correlations of flow noise drops rapidly with increasing axial separation between the elements, so the flow noise received by different vector hydrophones usually sampled in a half-wavelength rate can be considered as independent; （2） The flow noise is highly correlated in the radial direction at low frequency, and only those of high frequency componet can be neglected.