Target echo calculations using the OpenGL graphics pipeline

Abstract

This paper presents a novel approach to using modern graphics card capabilities for predicting the hydroacoustic target echo strength of an object. The key feature of this method is to inject code in the fragment shader stage of the OpenGL graphics pipeline, in effect transforming the optics reflection problem of computer graphics to an acoustic reflection problem. This is exemplified with the simple situation of an acoustically hard body and the monostatic detection case. Numerical accuracy is compared with Kirchhoff theory for simple bodies. Some suggestions for further work are proposed.