Matched-field source localization using incoherent frequency averaging for sound-speed mismatch and array element location errors in a shallow-water environment

Abstract

Matched-field processing is a parameter estimation technique for localizing a source from the acoustic field propagating in a waveguide. The signal is observed at an array in the presence of spatially correlated noise that also propagates in the same ocean environment as the signal. Incoherent broadband averaging is a method that uses the broadband nature of an acoustic source to acquire additional gain against ambient noise and to decrease background variance common to matched-field ambiguity surfaces. Incoherent broadband averaging has been applied earlier [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Suppl. 1 88, S27 (1990)] for source localization in the presence of random phase error in a Pekeris environment. In this paper, this method is applied using a more general environmental model (SNAP) for source localization in the presence of sound-speed mismatch and array element location errors. Preliminary results indicate that frequency averaging may have some value for localizing a source when these types of mismatch are present. [This work was supported by the Naval Research Laboratory through U.S. NAVY/ASEE Summer Faculty Research Program.] a)Summer Faculty Research Fellow, NAVY/ASEE Summer Program. b)Undergraduate student, William Penn Foundation Grant.