High-Frequency Scattered Envelope Statistics of Patchy Seafloors

The scattering properties of the individual components of seafloors consisting of discrete patches of different materials may have a complicated relationship in terms of their angular response and/or frequency dependence. Consequently, this relationship directly influences the angular and frequency response of scattered envelope probability density functions (pdfs). In this paper, the influence of the relative scattering strength of seafloor patches on scattered envelope statistics will be explored through both a modified form of a recently developed model [Abraham and Lyons, IEEE J. Ocean. Eng., vol. 27, pp. 800-813, 2002] and analysis of experimental data collected off Elba Island, Italy, in May 2003, by the NATO Undersea Research Centre, La Spezia, Italy. Qualitative comparisons of the $K$-distribution shape parameter $(alpha)$ between that predicted by the model and that measured from data display promising similarities such as the inverse relationship between $alpha$ and bandwidth, the relative difference in values of $alpha$ for the various seafloor types studied, and the dependence on grazing angle. The favorable model/data comparisons show that it is possible to link the scattered envelope distribution to measurable geoacoustic properties, providing the foundation necessary for solving several important problems related to the detection of targets in non-Rayleigh clutter including performance prediction for different systems based on seafloor properties, extrapolation of performance to other system/bandwidths, and optimization of system parameters such as bandwidth to local environment.      

Buried Sphere Detection Using a Synthetic Aperture Sonar

This paper presents observations of a buried sphere detected with a low-frequency (5–35-kHz) synthetic aperture sonar (SAS). These detections were made with good signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) at both above and below the critical grazing angle. The raw data for the below-critical-grazing angle detection shows that the acoustic penetration is skewed by the 29$^{circ}$ offset of the ripple field relative to the sonar path. This observed skew is in agreement with T-matrix calculations carried out to model penetration into the bottom via ripple diffraction. Additionally, measured SNRs over different frequency bands are compared to predictions made using both first- and second-order perturbation theory for ripple diffraction. Both the data and the models indicate a peak detection region around 25 kHz for the environmental conditions present during the test. These results confirm that ripple diffraction can play a critical role in long range (subcritical angle) buried target detection.      

Acoustic Observation of the Time Dependence of the Roughness of Sandy Seafloors

A statistical model for the time evolution of seafloor roughness due to biological activity is applied to photographic and acoustic data. In this model, the function describing small scale seafloor topography obeys a time-evolution equation with a random forcing term that creates roughness and a diffusion term that degrades roughness. When compared to acoustic data from the 1999 and 2004 Sediment Acoustics Experiments (SAX99 and SAX04), the model yields diffusivities in the range from 3.5$,times {hbox {10}} ^{-11}$ to 2.5 $,times {hbox {10}} ^{-10}~{hbox {m}}^{2} {hbox {s}} ^{-1}$ (from 10 to 80 cm$^{2} {hbox {yr}}^{-1}$), with the larger values occurring at sites where bottom-feeding fish were active. While the experimental results lend support to the model, a more focused experimental and simulation effort is required to test several assumptions intrinsic to the model.      

Attenuation Measurements Across Surface-Ship Wakes and Computed Bubble Distributions and Void Fractions

A surface ship's wake is composed of several hydrodynamic phenomena. A large part of that wake contains a mixture of air bubbles of various sizes in turbulent water. Eventually, as the wake ages, the turbulence subsides and bubbles begin to rise at rates that are determined by their sizes. These bubbles of various sizes and concentrations control the propagation of acoustic signals inside and across a wake. To further our understanding of these phenomena, a series of three continuous-wave (CW)-pulsed signals were transmitted across a wake as the wake aged. Each transmission contained a set of four 0.5-ms-long pulses. The 12 pulses ranged over frequencies from 30 to 140 kHz in 10-kHz steps. The acoustic attenuations across wakes that were due to varying bubble-size densities within the wakes were determined experimentally. From those data, estimates of the bubble densities as functions of the speed of the wake-generating ship, the wake's age, and acoustic frequency were calculated. From the bubble-density results, power-law fits and void fractions are calculated. The attenuation measurements were taken at 7.5-m intervals behind the wake-generating ship and continued for about 2 km. The experiment was run for wakes generated at ship speeds of 12- and 15-kn wakes, and the 15-kn run was repeated for consistence determination. The bubble densities were observed to have power-law forms with varying parameters with the strongest, for early ages, having an exponent of ${-}$3.6 and a void fraction of 4 $times$ 10$^{-7}$ , and with both diminishing for older wakes, as might be expected.      

Evaluation of Laser Scanning and Stereo Photography Roughness Measurement Systems Using a Realistic Model Seabed Surface

The topography of the seabed is influenced by sediment transport due to wave motion, current disturbance, and biological activities. The bottom roughness generated by these processes can substantially alter acoustic wave penetration into and scattering from the bottom, and therefore, it is essential to make accurate measurements of the bottom roughness for such acoustic applications. Methods to make direct measurements of bottom roughness include stereo photography, laser line scanning, and sediment conductivity. Roughness can also be measured indirectly using high-frequency sound backscatter. For optically-based methods, the accuracy of these measurements is typically evaluated using the elevations, lengths, or diameters of simple surface features of known dimensions. However, for acoustic applications, the statistical characteristics of the surface, e.g., the roughness spectrum, are more meaningful. In this paper, we present a fabricated rough surface milled into a 40 $,times ,$60 cm $^{2}$ plastic block for use as a benchmark in the assessment of two in situ roughness measurement systems: a laser scanning system and a digital stereo photography system. The surface has a realistic roughness power spectrum that is derived from the bottom roughness measured during the 1999 Sediment Acoustics Experiment (SAX99) and was fabricated by a computer numerical controlled milling machine. By comparing the fabricated surface spectrum to the measured spectrum, a determination of the accuracy of the roughness measurement is evaluated, which is of direct relevance to acoustic applications.      

Measurement of Low-Frequency Sound Attenuation in Marine Sediment

Marine sediment compressional wave attenuation and its frequency dependence have been active topics in the ocean acoustics community. To support the predictions of the frequency dependence of the sediment attenuation, experimental studies are essential for providing the observations of the sediment attenuation as a function of frequency in different environments, such as sediment type, source–receiver range, water depth, etc. This paper proposes an experimental method for estimating marine sediment attenuation at low frequencies in shallow water. The experimental geometry is short range between a vertical line array and multiple source depths to cover bottom reflections over a wide span of grazing angles. Single bounce bottom-reflected (BR) and sub-bottom-reflected signals are used in the analysis to obtain the best approximation of the sediment intrinsic attenuation. The attenuation estimating method is demonstrated on chirp data (1.5–4.5 kHz) collected on the New Jersey Continental Shelf during the 2006 Shallow Water Experiment (SW06). The data indicate a linear frequency dependence of the compressional wave attenuation for clay rich sediments on the outer shelf, and the estimated value is 0.15 dB/ $lambda$ within the frequency band of 1.75–3.15 kHz. The observation of small sound-speed dispersion of $sim$15 m/s over the frequency band is consistent with a linear frequency dependence of attenuation.      

Geoacoustic Inversion for the New Jersey Shelf: 3-D Sediment Model

A 3-D model of sediment sound speed for a 90-km $^{2}$ area on the New Jersey shelf was constructed by application of a geoacoustic inversion technique. This approach is based on a combination of seismic reflection measurements and a perturbative inversion scheme using horizontal wave number estimates. In a two-step process, seismic reflection measurements were used to identify depths at which discontinuities in the sound-speed profile (SSP) likely occur. Then, the perturbative inversion algorithm made use of this a priori information by employing qualitative regularization, an optimal method for addressing stability and uniqueness issues associated with solving the ill-posed inversion problem that provides for resolution of the layered seabed structure.      

The Effect of Multipath on the Envelope Statistics of Bottom Clutter

Active sonar systems operating in shallow-water environments are often faced with high numbers of false alarms, generically referred to as clutter, arising from among other sources bottom scattering that results in heavy tails in the matched filter envelope probability density function compared with the Rayleigh distribution. In this paper, the effect of multipath propagation on the envelope statistics (i.e., the disparity from the Rayleigh distribution) is modeled through the use of the -distribution where the shape and scale parameters are formed from the autocorrelation function of the transmit waveform, the multipath structure, and the strength and spatial density of the bottom scatterers. Use of the -distribution is justified by showing that it is the limiting distribution of the sum of independent but not identically distributed -distributed random variables, which is representative of multipath when the bottom produces -distributed backscatter. The shape parameter, which drives the clutter statistics, is seen to be inversely proportional to bandwidth at bandwidths low enough that the multipath is not resolved and again at bandwidths high enough that all of the paths are resolved. As has been previously reported by LePage [IEEE J. Ocean. Eng., vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 330-346, 2004], multipath is shown to make clutter statistics more Rayleigh-like, which in this analysis equates to an increase in the -distribution shape parameter. The model is used to evaluate the effect on clutter statistics of varying environmental characterizations and system configurations where it is seen that, for a constant sound-speed profile, increasing the vertical aperture of the sonar, the center frequency, or surface roughness can lead to less multipath and, therefore, a reduction in the -distribution shape parameter and an increase in the probability of false alarm.     

Sparse Cylindrical Sonar Arrays

Sparse arrays offer a means for reducing the cost and complexity of beamforming systems. Most of the work in the literature has focused on sparse linear arrays with isotropic transducer elements, which simplifies analysis greatly. In this paper, we will focus on multibeam cylindrical arrays using highly directive elements for use in fishery applications, which requires a directionally independent imaging performance in the azimuth direction as well as beam steerability in the elevational direction. To populate such an array, we suggest a low periodicity in the azimuth direction of the array, which ensures a (near) directionally independent imaging performance in this direction. At the same time it reduces the complexity of the problem so that a suggested iterative method can find the optimal layout under the given constraints, within reasonable time. The optimality of the constrained solution is verified using a stochastic optimization procedure, with a “loosened” periodicity constraint. Simulations then show that the proposed layout, having low periodicity in the azimuth direction, has a reduced peak sidelobe level compared to the fully sampled array. All of the layouts have been required to support beam steering from $-$30 $^{circ}$ to 0$^{circ}$ in elevation and in all 360$^{circ}$ in azimuth, without deterioration in performance.      

Analysis of Phase Error Effects on Stripmap SAS

It is often of interest to consider how uncompensated platform motion can degrade the ideal point scatterer response (PSR) of a synthetic aperture sonar (SAS). This information can be used to shape the design of the sonar itself as well as that of the platform carrying it. Also, knowledge of how certain types of motion affect a SAS image can reduce the time spent in troubleshooting motion estimation and compensation schemes. In the field of spotlight-mode synthetic aperture radar (SAR), the effects of phase errors across the synthetic aperture are well documented (for example, Chapter 5 of Carrara , 1995). The counterpart problem for the stripmap mode is less well developed in the literature. This paper explores the effects of uncompensated phase errors on stripmap imagery and shows that, under certain conditions, they are similar to those for spotlight mode processing.      

$H_{2}$ and $H_{infty}$ Designs for Diving and Course Control of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle in Presence of Waves

$H_{2}$ and $H_{infty}$ designs applied to the diving and course control of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) considering the presence of wave disturbances are described. The six-degrees-of-freedom equations of motion of the vehicle are described as a linear model and divided into three noninteracting (or lightly interacting) subsystems for speed control, steering, and diving. This work is based on the slender form of the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS, Monterey, CA) AUV, considering that the subsystems can be controlled by means of two single-screw propellers, a rudder, port and starboard bow planes, and a stern plane. A model of the AUV dynamics is presented with the first- and the second-order wave force disturbances, i.e., the Froude–Kriloff and diffraction forces. An algorithm of nonlinear regression for the rationalization of the subsurface sea spectrum is provided in this case study. The obtained results are analyzed and evaluated in the frequency domain comparing the controllers performance considering or not the inclusion of the model of waves.      

Position Correction Using Echoes From a Navigation Fix for Synthetic Aperture Sonar Imaging

In synthetic aperture sonar (SAS), the platform position must be known sufficiently accurately for signals to be added coherently along the synthetic aperture. Often, the onboard navigation system is insufficiently accurate by itself, so corrections are needed. A well-known method is the displaced phase center antenna (DPCA) procedure for correcting platform position using seabed echoes. DPCA methods have the advantage of insensitivity to changing interference patterns, moving specular reflection, and changing occlusion, with aspect. However, when seabed echoes are unusable, either because they are too weak, or because they are corrupted by multipath, the seabed DCPA method may fail. Therefore, we present an alternative DPCA method using sonar echoes from a suitable navigation fix, based on an object detected after standard beamforming. In our proposed system, look angle is obtained by tracking the centroid of the rectified image of the fix object. When the standard DPCA correction equations are modified for a fixed reflector, it turns out that they provide incremental range and look-angle errors, precisely the values required when the target itself is used as the navigation fix. Moreover, the values obtained are then self-compensating for errors in estimating seabed depth or forward motion of the platform. The navigation fix is selected by bracketing in range, and beamforming overlapping subsets of the receiver array. In this paper, we present experimental results at transmitter frequencies of 25 and 100 kHz where our method enabled well-focused SAS images to be generated with little recourse to other navigation information. Hence, SAS can be carried out, even when a sophisticated inertial navigation system (INS) is not available.      

Relative Height Estimation by Cross-Correlating Ground-Range Synthetic Aperture Sonar Images

The relative height of the seafloor can be estimated by using two vertically displaced receivers. In this paper, we propose techniques to improve the accuracy of the estimated height. Our results are based on the use of synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) imaging, which implies coherent addition of complex images acquired from a moving platform. The SAS processing improves the along-track (or azimuth) resolution, as well as the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), which in turn improves the estimated height accuracy. We show that the shift of the effective center frequency induced by coherent, frequency-dependent scattering affect the time-delay estimates from complex cross correlations, and we propose a correction technique for broadband signals with uneven magnitude spectra. To reduce the effect of geometrical decorrelation and increase the coherence between the images, we beamform the sonar images onto an a priori estimate of the seafloor height before correlating. We develop a mathematical model for the imaging geometry. Finally, we demonstrate our proposed estimators by providing relative seafloor height estimates from real aperture and SAS images, obtained during the InSAS-2000 experiment at Elba Island in Italy. In particular, we demonstrate that the SAS image quality is significantly improved by inclusion of the height estimates as a priori information.     

Shadow Enhancement in Synthetic Aperture Sonar Using Fixed Focusing

A shadow cast by an object on the seafloor is important information for target recognition in synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) images. Synthetic aperture imaging causes a fundamental limitation to shadow clarity because the illuminator is moved during the data collection. This leads to a blend of echo and shadow, or geometrical fill-in in the shadow region. The fill-in is most dominant for widebeam synthetic aperture imaging systems. By treating the shadow as a moving target and compensating for the motion during the synthetic aperture imagery, we avoid the geometrical shadow fill-in. We show this to be equivalent to fixing the focus at the range of the shadow caster. This novel technique, referred to as fixed focus shadow enhancement (FFSE) can be used directly as an imaging method on hydrophone data or as a postprocessing technique on the complex SAS image. We demonstrate the FFSE technique on simulated data and on real data from a rail-based SAS, and on two different SAS systems operated on a HUGIN autonomous underwater vehicle.      

Motion-Compensation Improvement for Widebeam, Multiple-Receiver SAS Systems

The effect that uncompensated motion errors have on synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) imagery can be severe. Time-domain beamforming SAS reconstruction is able to compensate arbitrary track errors, but the more efficient frequency-domain reconstruction algorithms, such as the range-Doppler, chirp-scaling, and wave number (aka range migration or Stolt-mapping) algorithms do not allow for simple compensation, especially for widebeam sonars. Data processed via these block algorithms is usually compensated before azimuth compression in a computationally inexpensive preprocessing step. Unfortunately, this compensation assumes a narrowbeam geometry, causing blurring in high-resolution images collected with widebeam sonars. In this paper, we demonstrate a new technique for compensation of large, but known, motion errors in data collected with widebeam geometry sonars. The technique relies on obtaining angle-of-arrival information from the multiple-receiver array configuration typical in high-resolution SAS systems. The new method of compensating for motion errors was found to significantly outperform the previous techniques in a simulation of point-reflector imagery.      

Real- and synthetic-array signal processing of buried targets

Results from two field experiments aimed at investigating the detection and classification of buried targets are presented. In both experiments a 2-16-kHz parametric source was used. In the first experiment, the source was used in combination with a 12-m horizontal line array and in the second with a 1.4-m vertical line array which was displaced horizontally along an underwater rail to form a 10 m /spl times/ 1.4 m two-dimensional synthetic aperture sonar (SAS). To increase the SAS integration time, the parametric source was electronically scanned in azimuth during the displacement along the rail, as in spotlight mode. It is shown that both arrays allow important signal-to-reverberation gains, enhancing the detection of sub-bottom echoes. A new, environmentally adaptive, matched filter which further improves the signal to reverberation ratio while allowing discrimination between proud and buried targets is presented and validated experimentally. The use of resonant scattering for target classification of buried objects is discussed, in the particular case of spherical shells.     

Distinct side-scan sonar, RADARSAT SAR, and acoustic profiler signatures of gas and oil seeps on the Gulf of Mexico slope

We examined bubble streams from four natural seep sites on the upper continental slope of the Gulf of Mexico. Synthetic aperture radar images verified surface oil slicks over sites with oily bubbles but not over those with non-oily bubbles. Non-oily bubbles produced high backscatter on side-scan sonar records, but were difficult to detect with acoustic profilers. Oily bubbles produced clear signatures extending from the seafloor to the near-surface on acoustic profiles and produced acoustic shadows on side-scan sonar records. We hypothesize that the bubbles oily coating causes the different signatures, since all bubbles were resonant at the tested frequencies.     

Fault scarp identification in side-scan sonar and bathymetry images from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge using wavelet-based digital filters

Digital filters designed using wavelet theory are applied to high resolution deep-towed side-scan sonar data from the median valley walls, crestal mountains, and flanks of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 29°10 N. With proper tuning, the digital filters are able to identify the location, orientation, length, and width of highly reflective linear features in sonar images. These features are presumed to represent the acoustic backscatter from axis-facing normal faults. The fault locations obtained from the digital filters are well correlated with visual geologic interpretation of the images. The side-scan sonar images are also compared with swath bathymetry from the same area. The digitally filtered bathymetry images contain nine of the eleven faults identified by eye in the detailed geologic interpretation of the side-scan data. Faults with widths (measured perpendicular to their strike) of less than about 150 m are missed in the bathymetry analysis due to the coarser resolution of these data. This digital image processing technique demonstrates the potential of wavelet-based analysis to reduce subjectivity and labor involved in mapping and analyzing topographic features in side-scan sonar and bathymetric image data.     

On nonlinear sea waves and the induced mean flow

The nonlinear modulation of water wave groups is investigated and the interaction equations with induced flows are obtained. The analysis is performed up to the third order of the wave steepness a by treating it as a small parameter in the singular perturbation technique by means of the Krylov-Bogoliubov-Mitropolski method. The equation which governs the development of the wave envelope is found by a modification of the ordinary nonlinear Schroedinger equation for the case of uniform depth. The equations governing the behavior of the induced mean flow are examined by deriving the second order flow when the form of the modulated wave train is prescribed. The present theory can describe the mean flow caused by the radiation stress. Some applications containing the monochromatic wave instability are given to confirm the theoretical results.An outline of this paper was presented at The Ocean Surface Symposium (Sendai, 1984).