Research on Detection Range Prediction for Oversea Wide-aperture Towed Sonar

Abstract

Sonar detection range is one of the most important indexes to investigate the performance of sonar equipment. The prediction of sonar action range plays a vital role in mastering sonar detection performance and improving the probability of target detection. Therefore, the study of sonar range prediction methodology for sonar detection is of great value in practical terms. Due to the difficulty in obtaining operation parameters of foreign sonar equipment, combined with the absence of detailed description of sonar qualification, it’s impracticable to directly extract indicators from equipment performance description. In this paper, a method is proposed to predict the detection range of line array sonar abroad, which includes collecting clues, estimating parameters, assessment testing, sound filed prediction, theoretical analysis. In the first stage, the semi-quantitative analysis is carried out by using the method of hypotheses and deductions, to estimate the sonar parameters. Then, the Marine environment model is established to calculate the transmission loss in the sea area. A domestic towed sonar assessment test is conducted in the second stage. The objective of the test is to verify the rationality of the sonar parameters deduced from the analysis, adjust the semi-quantitative calculation results, and obtain the actual detection performance of foreign sonar. In this paper, based on passive detection modes of broadband parabolic detection and narrowband detection, the detection distances of passive sonar equipment such as SOSUS (USA), SQR-19 (USA, Japan) are calculated respectively. The method presented in this paper is a feasible attempt for the detection range prediction of the wide-aperture towed array sonar, which provides a theoretical foundation for the further study of the foreign sonar detection performance. Above all, it offers certain references for commanding submarine operations.