Predictions of acoustic scattering by a fish school

Abstract

A theory originally developed by Richard Love [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 64, 571–580 (1978)] is used to model scattering by a school of fish. In order to incorporate propagation effects, this model has been integrated into a modified version of the RAM acoustic propagation model developed by Michael Collins. Running the integrated model over a sequence of frequencies results in predictions of the time and frequency response of broadband signals scattered by fish schools. Using an ensemble of fish school realizations lets us develop features that describe the response of a fish school to the acoustic signals. These features in turn allow separation of returns from a target from those from interfering schools. [Work supported by the Office of Naval Research.]