TR-MIMO detection of a small target in a shallow water waveguide environment

A kind of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) sonar model is presented for enhancing detection of small targets in an underwater acoustic waveguide. A co-located vertical linear array is partitioned into several sub-arrays illuminating orthogonal waveforms at a target of interest. When the target is modeled as an extended target consisting of multiple scatterers, time reversal is utilized in the MIMO transmission scheme for capturing target diversity. The feasibility of time-reversal beams simultaneously esonifying the target’s scatterers is verified by the analysis of spatial–temporal focusing in simulations. The tank experimental results have further demonstrated the effectiveness of the TR-MIMO sonar model.