Signal detection in time spreading underwater environments using vector and scalar sensors

Abstract

In this paper, we aim to examine the effects of the time-spreading signal distortion caused by multipath propagation in underwater environments, using experimental data. We use the Replica Correlation Integration detector [B. Friedlander and A. Zeira, “Detection of broadband signals in frequency and time dispersive channels,” IEEE Trans. Signal Process. 44(7), 1613–1622 (1996)], which is designed to take the multiple echoes of the transmitted signal into consideration. We apply this detector to measured data collected by underwater acoustic sensors. We use two types of sensors. The first sensor is a hydrophone that measures only the scalar component of the acoustic field, i.e., the acoustic pressure. The second sensor is a vector sensor that simultaneously measures the scalar and the three vector components of the acoustic field, i.e., the three acoustic particle velocity x, y, and z components. This sensor can perform as a multi-channel detector. Analysis of the measured data provides insights into the signal detection capabilities of the vector field components in time-spreading underwater environments. [The work is supported in part by NSF, Grant IIP-1500123, and ONR.]