Acoustic array analysis using multiple processors in parallel

Abstract

Acoustic arrays are expensive to deploy and require a multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers to develop, deploy, and monitor. This paper addresses one particular effort developed as a commercial software package, the Underwater Acoustic Analysis Tool (UWAA) by CST Images. UWAA is an acoustic array analysis tool for pre- and post-deployment modeling and analysis. Typically, the modeling of acoustic arrays and their deployment has been developed as separate and fractured modeling efforts. The array laydown modeling was separate from the acoustic beam formation and the propagation modeling. In addition to integrating all the components necessary to deploy an acoustic array, this effort describes the capability to compute the modeling in a parallel multithreaded environment using attached array processors. UWAA has integrated the modeling of the 3-D sensor positioning and sensor response, 3-D beam formation, 3-D acoustic modeling, and complex acoustic array interaction for beam formation using a high-performance multiprocessor system.