An experimental study on matched field processing in shallow water

I.IntroductionPassiverangeanddepthlocalizationofanacousticsourceinshallowwaterisadifficult,yetinterestingproblemthathasreceivedagreatdealofattentioninthelastfewyears['5].Thesimu1taneousestimationofrangeanddepthrequirestheuseofnumericalpropagationmodels.Theclassicalapproachtothisproblemisto"match"thereceivedacousticdatawiththesoundfieldpredictedbythepropagationmodelforanumberofhypotheticalrange/depthsourcelocatiolls.Thistechniqueiscalledmatchedfieldprocessing.Itiscommonlyacceptedthatthewavepro…     

Motion compensation for adaptive horizontal line array processing

Large aperture horizontal line arrays have small resolution cells and can be used to separate a target signal from an interference signal by array beamforming. High-resolution adaptive array processing can be used to place a null at the interference signal so that the array gain can be much higher than that of conventional beamforming. But these nice features are significantly degraded by the source motion, which reduces the time period under which the environment can be considered stationary from the array processing point of view. For adaptive array processing, a large number of data samples are generally required to minimize the variance of the cross-spectral density, or the covariance matrix, between the array elements. For a moving source and interference, the penalty of integrating over a large number of samples is the spread of signal and interference energy to more than one or two eigenvalues. The signal and interference are no longer clearly identified by the eigenvectors and, consequently, the ability to suppress the interference suffers. We show in this paper that the effect of source motion can be compensated for the (signal) beam covariance matrix, thus allowing integration over a large number of data samples without loss in the signal beam power. We employ an equivalent of a rotating coordinate frame to track the signal bearing change and use the waveguide invariant theory to compensate the signal range change by frequency shifting.     

On array design for matched-field processing

Conventional plane-wave beamforming array design guidelines are motivated by the desire to obtain particular beampattern characteristics, such as main lobe width and side lobe levels. These design guidelines are appropriate for arrays employed for beamforming, where a plane-wave signal model is utilized to derive both the array design parameters and the beamforming algorithm. However, matched-field processing utilizes full-field acoustic propagation models to exploit the complexities of ocean acoustic propagation. As a result, there may be more appropriate design guidelines for arrays employed for matched-field processing. In this paper, general guidelines for matched-field processing array design utilizing a normal mode propagation model are proposed. Various line array configurations are evaluated with respect to source localization performance, and the results suggest that arrays designed for matched-field processing should provide a unique representation of each propagating mode along the extent of the array. Further, the empirical analyses support the guidelines suggested by the theoretical analyses and show that arrays which are far from meeting conventional beamforming array design requirements may be more than sufficient for matched-field processing.     

Null-broadening in a waveguide

Null-broadening, introduced in plane wave beamforming, is extended to an ocean waveguide in the context of matched field processing. The method is based on the minimum variance processor with white noise constraint and the distribution of fictitious sources using the theory of waveguide invariants. The proposed method is demonstrated in simulation as well as with data collected during the SWellEx-96 experiment. As another application, it is shown that the width of a null can be controlled in an adaptive time reversal mirror with a source-receive array.     

Striation-based beamforming for estimating the waveguide invariant with passive sonar

The waveguide invariant summarizes the pattern of constructive and destructive interference between acoustic modes propagating in the ocean waveguide. For many sonar signal-processing schemes, it is essential to know the correct numerical value for the waveguide invariant. While conventional beamforming can estimate the ratio between the waveguide invariant and the range to the source, it cannot unambiguously separate the two terms. In the present work, striation-based beamforming is developed. It is shown that the striation-based beamformer can be used to produce an estimate for the waveguide invariant that is independent of the range. Simulation results are presented.     

Beam intensity striations and applications

The single-element spectrogram for a continuous broadband signal, plotted as a function of range, has been shown to exhibit striated bands of intensity maxima and minima. The slope of the striations is an invariant of the modal interference and is described by a waveguide invariant parameter "beta." The striation pattern is analyzed and modeled in this paper for the beam outputs of a horizontal line array obtained by conventional beamforming. Array beamforming makes it possible to measure the waveguide invariant parameter for weak signals due to the enhancement of signal levels by the array gain over that of a single element. It is shown that the signal beam spectrogram as a function of range exhibits the same striation pattern as that (predicted) for a single element. Specifically, for a broadside signal, the beam striation is identical to that of a single-element plus a constant signal gain. For a nonbroadside target, the signal beam intensity will be modified by a frequency-bearing dependent signal gain due to the signal spread over multiple beams, nevertheless the beam spectrogram retains the same striation pattern (slope) as for a single element. The sidelobe beams (outside the canonical cones containing the signal arrivals) exhibit an entirely different striation pattern as a function of frequency and range. For array processing, it is shown that a fast range-rate, close range target and a distant, slow range-rate interference source will have a different striation pattern (slope) in the corresponding beam spectrograms as a function of time, assuming no prior knowledge of the source ranges. The difference in the striations between the beam spectrograms can be used in array processing to suppress the interference contribution. A 5-7 dB interference suppression is demonstrated using simulated data.     

基于压缩感知的矢量阵聚焦定位方法

本文针对噪声源近场定位识别问题,利用声源分布在空间域具有稀疏性,在压缩感知理论框架下建立了新体系下的矢量阵聚焦波束形成方法,用于解决同频相干声源的定位识别问题.新方法可在小快拍下准确获得噪声源的空间位置,且不损失对噪声源贡献相对大小的评价能力.通过详细的理论推导、仿真分析和试验验证,证明了基于压缩感知的矢量阵聚焦定位新方法本质上实现了l1范数正则化求解下的波形恢复和空间谱估计,因此具有较高的定位精度,较强的相干声源分辨能力、准确的声源贡献相对大小评价能力以及较高的背景压制能力,可应用于水下复杂噪声源的定位识别.     

线阵波束形成声强缩放方法估算声源的辐射声功率

为了解决波束形成声源识别过程中声源辐射声功率定量计算的问题,给出了阵型简洁、便于组合的线阵声强缩放模型。通过推导线阵的声强缩放系数,建立起线阵波束输出结果与声源辐射声功率之间的换算关系。无论是线阵还是平面阵的声强缩放方法,对于偏离阵列中心位置较远处的声源进行辐射声功率估算时都存在较为明显的误差。通过理论推导和仿真模拟计算,研究了同一单极子点声源在不同位置处的声功率估算偏差随频率、幅度的变化规律,发现该估算偏差只与声源偏离位置有关,而与声源自身的强度信息无关的结论,据此给出了相应的声功率估算修正方法。半消声室实验结果和声压法测量结果对比表明:修正后的线阵声强缩放方法用于中高频声源的辐射声功率计算时,单频声源的估算误差不超过1.0 dB,宽带声源的估算误差不超过1.8 dB。      

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.     

Maximization of the directivity ratio with the desired audible gain level for broadband design of near field loudspeaker arrays

This paper mainly addresses design methods for near field loudspeaker arrays. These methods have been studied recently since they can be used to realize a personal audio space without the use of headphones. From a practical view point, they can also be used to form a directional sound beam within a short distance from the sources especially using a linear loudspeaker array. In this regard, we re-analyzed the previous near field beamforming methods in order to obtain a comprehensive near field beamforming formulation. Broadband directivity control is proposed for multi-objective optimization, which maximizes the directivity with the desired gain, where both the directivity and the gain are commonly used array performance measures. This method of control aims to form a directive sound beam within a short distance while widening the frequency range of the beamforming. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate that broadband directivity control achieves higher directivity and gain over our whole frequency range of interest compared with previous beamforming methods.     

等声速环境中目标前向声散射简正波耦合的垂直阵空域响应特征

水下目标的前向声散射会引起声波传播过程中的简正波耦合效应,使得接收声场结构发生变化,研究目标前向散射引起的垂直阵列上空域响应变化特征,可实现对直达波强干扰背景下的前向散射检测。通过将垂直阵波束形成技术分别用于信道中目标散射场理论模型计算数据和湖上实验验证数据,分析了等声速环境中目标前向声散射简正波耦合的垂直阵空域响应特征。结果表明,目标靠近接收端时前向散射引起的声波垂直达到结构与无目标时相比差异显著,高阶简正波向低阶简正波转化导致信号到达时延宽度展宽,采用指向水平方向的窄波束可显著提取目标前向散射引起的接收声波变化特征。      

基于波束形成缩放声强的声源局部声功率计算

基于波束形成法识别噪声源时,为计算主要噪声源的辐射声功率,给出了基于平面波模型的声强缩放方法,模拟计算了单极子点声源局部声功率的计算误差,结果显示:当阵列平面与声源计算平面间距离等于阵列直径时,基于波束形成缩放声强计算的声功率误差仅略高于0.1 dB。为克服旁瓣干扰,给出了具有一定动态范围的声源计算平面积分法,模拟计算了单极子点声源的局部声功率,结果表明:该积分法的计算值与主瓣区域积分法的计算值近似相等,均约等于理论声功率。进一步,波束形成法与声强法的对比算例试验验证了基于波束形成缩放声强计算声源局部声功率方法的有效性。      

利用波导不变量的浅海负跃层声源深度判别

在夏季负跃层水文条件下,声源激发的声场同时存在折射类和反射类简正波,导致通过分离简正波进行深度判别的方法性能下降甚至失效·提出了一种利用波导不变量判别声源深度的方法。当接收器位于负跃层以下时,水面声源和水下声源的波导不变量数值不同。在本文的仿真条件下,水面声源波导不变量约等于1,当声源位于负跃层以下时,波导不变量大于1.利用频域warping变换从干涉结构中提取与实际距离成线性关系的时域脉冲,可以在未知声源距离的情况下,从声场干涉结构中获得声源激发声场的波导不变量,从而在夏季负跃层水文条件下进行声源深度判别。方法无须声源与接收器存在最近经过距离,可适用于单水听器或水平阵波束形成后输出的LOFAR谱.仿真结果证明,方法可以提取水面目标和水下目标的时延轨迹并计算干涉条纹的波导不变量。最后,对海试实验数据进行分析处理,从水面声源的干涉条纹中提取波导不变量,证明了方法的有效性。      

一种基于简正波模态消频散变换的声源距离深度估计方法

针对浅海环境中传播的低频宽带水声脉冲信号,基于简正波水平波数差和波导不变量之间的关系,本文提出了一种利用距离-频散参数二维平面聚焦测距与匹配模态能量定深的目标声源定位方法.首先,通过将由频散参数和波导不变量表示的前几阶模态相速度与由环境模型计算的相速度进行对比分析,从而估计出前几阶模态的频散参数和环境的波导不变量.其次,利用估计出的频散参数值和波导不变量对接收信号进行消频散变换处理,只有当接收信号的距离参数等于目标声源距离时,各号简正波的幅度均达到最大值,在距离-频散参数二维平面上,出现声压聚焦的现象,利用此现象可以估计目标声源的距离.不仅如此,消频散变换后的接收信号,前几阶模态在时域上明显地分离开来,可以准确地估计出前几阶模态的能量,采用多模态能量匹配的方式,可以估计出目标声源的深度.最后,通过对仿真和冬季获得的气枪信号数据处理结果验证了本文方法的有效性.     

基于近场聚焦逆波束形成的UUV平台噪声自适应抵消

UUV平台自噪声会对舷侧阵产生干扰,从而影响其探测性能,本文针对平台尾部自噪声源的直达噪声和海面反射噪声,提出了基于近场聚焦逆波束形成的平台噪声自适应抵消方法。文中利用UUV平台设计参数、深度以及运动姿态信息对尾部自噪声传播到舷侧阵的路径建立几何模型,并分析了影响该路径的因素;通过该模型,平台尾部自噪声能够实时自适应地通过聚焦波束形成被估计出来,从而在舷侧阵的接收信号中实现干扰抵消。仿真结果与海试实验数据处理结果表明,该方法能够有效抑制尾部自噪声干扰,显著提高UUV探测弱目标的能力。     

Rotating beamforming – motion-compensation in the frequency domain and application of high-resolution beamforming algorithms

A method is presented for the location of rotating sound sources by a microphone array. In contrast to other methods which are formulated in the time domain, this method works completely in the frequency domain and allows the application of advanced, high resolution beamforming techniques. Following the work by Lowis and Joseph for ducted sources, it is shown that a generalized cross-spectral matrix in the rotating frame of reference can be calculated which can serve as a starting point for advanced beamforming techniques. The Green's function of a moving point source under free space conditions is expressed in spherical coordinates, which are, for numerical reasons, more convenient than cylindrical coordinates. The microphones on the array have to be arranged in a ring. As a practical example high resolution beamforming deconvolution methods are applied to simulated data and measured data from rotating sources.     

高精度球面阵聚焦声源定位方法研究

提出了一种高精度高空间分辨率球面阵聚焦声源定位方法——虚拟源法。该方法通过球面阵波束扫描获得实际声源的空间聚焦谱,并假定各扫描点为虚拟声源,将实际声源聚焦谱看作是全体虚拟源共同作用的结果,由此得到各虚拟源对声场的贡献量,从而可实现声源精确定位。仿真研究分析了频率,阵列孔径,声场模态阶数,信噪比等参数对声源定位性能的影响,并与常规算法进行对比。结果显示,该方法不受频率和阵列孔径的限制,避免了空间“混淆”,能够进行高精度高分辨率声源定位,并具有良好的背景噪声抑制能力。      

能量加权时间特征用于浅海声源深度类型判别

针对浅海水面与水下低频宽带脉冲声源深度类型判别问题,提出了一种水平线列阵接收时利用能量加权到达时间特征判别声源深度类型的方法,并给出了工作频段选择的方法。该方法在脉冲宽度内以能量作为权值,对到达时间加权平均,将时间加权平均值与脉冲到达接收阵初始时间值的差值作为评判量,定义合适的水面与水下声源深度界限后,将评判量与拷贝声场中深度界限对应阈值比较,实现声源深度类型判别。经仿真数据验证,方法在等声速、负梯度、温跃层水文环境下的近距离声场均可实现。分析了声源距离、声源方位、海深、水平阵接收深度及阵列孔径等参数对方法性能的影响,进一步分析了声源距离失配、海底纵波声速失配、海深失配时方法的鲁棒性。除海底纵波声速失配时的影响较大外,方法具有较好的鲁棒性。     

Modal Doppler theory of an arbitrarily accelerating continuous-wave source applied to mode extraction in the oceanic waveguide

A Doppler-based method for using a moving narrow-band source to extract the modes of acoustic propagation in a range-independent shallow ocean waveguide over a partial-water-column spanning vertical line array (VLA) is introduced. Because the modal components propagate at distinct frequencies in the case of uniform radial source motion, the modal depth functions may be isolated and extracted from a frequency decomposition of the field. Because Doppler broadening due to radial source accelerations degrades the effectiveness of the extraction method, the method incorporates a technique to compensate for Doppler broadening. As the basis for the compensation technique, a theory is introduced for describing the VLA field from an accelerating cw source. By connecting the range of the source at the time a signal feature is emitted (the retarded time) to the range of the source at the time the signal feature arrives at the receiver (the contemporary time), the theory incorporates the Doppler effects associated with the finite group velocities of the modal components. The mode extraction method and compensation technique are applied to simulation and ocean data.     

Source ranging with minimal environmental information using a virtual receiver and waveguide invariant theory

A method is presented for estimating the range of an unknown broadband acoustic source in a waveguide, using a vertical array and a signal sample from another broadband source at a known location relative to the array. The method requires no modeling of the acoustic field, and little to no environmental information for flat bathymetries. Waveguide invariant theory [e.g., D'Spain and Kuperman, J. Acoust. Soc. Am 106, 2454-2468 (1999)] is applied to the "virtual receiver" [Siderius et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 102, 3439-3449 (1997)] to create a "virtual aperture" (VA). In effect, the method effectively converts a source at known range r(g) into a continuum of receivers lying between ranges (1 +/- alpha/beta)*r(g), where beta is a scalar parameter called the acoustic invariant, and alpha approximately 0.1. This effective displacement is achieved by correlating the known source field, measured at frequency component omega, with the unknown source field, measured at frequency component omega + omegas. When the VA output is plotted as a function of omega and omegas, the slope of the resulting correlation contours yields the unknown source range. The concept is illustrated via both simulation and analysis of data collected from a pseudo-random noise source with 75-150-Hz bandwidth during SWellEx-3, a shallow water experiment conducted off the San Diego coast. The virtual aperture can be reformulated for range-dependent environments, if adiabatic propagation assumptions are valid, and if the bathymetry surrounding the array is known.