Comparison of fading statistics for shallow and deep acoustic sources in a continental shelf environment.

Abstract

Previous work has shown a noticeable difference in the effects of the ocean environment on signals from shallow and deep moving sources. These effects are seen in received amplitude statistics, and such statistics can be used in passive acoustic depth classification. This talk presents a statistical analysis of signals from a September 2007 shallow water acoustic transmission test performed along the continental shelf off the coast of southeast Florida. The data used include low frequency (between 25 and 450 Hz), continuous-wave signals from a towed source at 100 m depth, as well as tones from surface ships in the area. Using statistical class models in a Minimum Hellinger Distance Classifier, the usefulness of received signal amplitude statistics for passive acoustic source-depth classification is discussed. [Work supported by ONR Undersea Signal Processing.]