WHOAS : Browsing WHOI Theses by Subject "Acoustic models"

Thesis

Acoustic scattering of broadband echolocation signals from prey of Blainville's beaked whales : modeling and analysis

(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2006-09) Jones, Benjamin A.

Blainville's beaked whales (Mesoplodon densirostris) use broadband, ultrasonic echolocation signals (27 to 57 kHz) to search for, localize, and approach prey that generally consist of mid-water and deep-water fishes and squid. Although it is well known that the spectral characteristics of broadband echoes from marine organisms are a strong function of size, shape, orientation and anatomical group, little is known as to whether or not these or other toothed whales use spectral cues in discriminating between prey and non-prey. In order to study the prey-classification process, a stereo acoustic tag was mounted on a Blainville's beaked whale so that emitted clicks and corresponding echoes from prey could be recorded. A comparison of echoes from prey selected by the whale and those from randomly chosen scatterers suggests that the whale may have, indeed, discriminated between echoes using spectral features and target strengths. Specifically, the whale appears to have favored prey with one or more deep nulls in the echo spectra as well as ones with higher target strength. A three-dimensional, acoustic scattering model is also developed to simulate broadband scattering from squid, a likely prey of the beaked whale. This model applies the distorted wave Born approximation (DWBA) to a weakly-scattering, inhomogeneous body using a combined ray trace and volume integration approach. Scatterer features are represented with volume elements that are small (less than 1/12th of the wavelength) for the frequency range of interest (0 to 120 kHz). Ranges of validity with respect to material properties and numerical considerations are explored using benchmark computations with simpler geometries such as fluid-filled spherical and cylindrical fluid shells. Modeling predictions are compared with published data from live, freely swimming squid. These results, as well as previously published studies, are used in the analysis of the echo spectra of the whale's ensonified targets.

Thesis

Adaptive estimation of acoustic normal modes

(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1994-09) Wage, Kathleen E.

Normal mode theory provides an efficient description of signals which propagate axially in the SOFAR channel and are detectable at long ranges. Mode amplitudes and their second order statistics are useful in studies of long-range acoustic propagation and for applications such as Matched Mode Processing (MMP) and Matched Field Tomography (MFT). The purpose of this research is to investigate techniques for estimating the average power in the modes of a signal given pressure measurements from a vertical line array. This thesis develops the problem of mode estimation within a general array processing framework which includes both deterministic and stochastic characterizations of the modal structure. A review of conventional modal beamforming indicates that these methods provide poor resolution in low signal-to-noise ratio environments. This is not surprising since standard estimation techniques rely on minimizing a squared error criterion without regard to the ambient noise. The primary contribution of this thesis is an adaptive estimator for coherent modes that is based on a method suggested by Ferrara and Parks for array processing using diversely-polarized antennas. Two formulations of the adaptive method are investigated using a combination of analytical techniques and numerical simulations. The performance evaluation considers the following issues: (i) power level of the noise, (ii) orthogonality of the sampled modeshapes, (iii) number of data snapshots, and (iv) coherence of the signal. The new approach is fundamentally different from other modal estimators such as those used in MMP because it is data-adaptive and maximizes the received power instead of minimizing the squared error. As a result, the new methods perform significantly better than least squares in high noise environments. Specifically, the Ferrara/Parks formulations are able to maintain nulls in the modal spectrum since they do not suffer the bias error that significantly affects the least squares processor. A second contribution of the thesis is an extension of the coherent estimator to facilitate estimation of phase-randomized modes. Although the results of this work are preliminary, the extended formulation appears to offer several advantages over least squares in certain cases.

Thesis

Analysis of and techniques for adaptive equalization for underwater acoustic communication

(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2011-09) Blair, Ballard J. S.

Underwater wireless communication is quickly becoming a necessity for applications in ocean science, defense, and homeland security. Acoustics remains the only practical means of accomplishing long-range communication in the ocean. The acoustic communication channel is fraught with difficulties including limited available bandwidth, long delay-spread, time-variability, and Doppler spreading. These difficulties reduce the reliability of the communication system and make high data-rate communication challenging. Adaptive decision feedback equalization is a common method to compensate for distortions introduced by the underwater acoustic channel. Limited work has been done thus far to introduce the physics of the underwater channel into improving and better understanding the operation of a decision feedback equalizer. This thesis examines how to use physical models to improve the reliability and reduce the computational complexity of the decision feedback equalizer. The specific topics covered by this work are: how to handle channel estimation errors for the time varying channel, how to use angular constraints imposed by the environment into an array receiver, what happens when there is a mismatch between the true channel order and the estimated channel order, and why there is a performance difference between the direct adaptation and channel estimation based methods for computing the equalizer coefficients. For each of these topics, algorithms are provided that help create a more robust equalizer with lower computational complexity for the underwater channel.

Thesis

Array processing and forward modeling methods for the analysis of stiffened, fluid-loaded cylindrical shells

(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1994-03) Bondaryk, Joseph E.

This thesis investigates array processing and forward modeling methods for the analysis of experimental, structural acoustic data to understand wave propagation on fluid-loaded, elastic, cylindrical shells in the mid-frequency range, 2 < ka < 12. The transient, acoustic, in-plane, bistatic scattering response to wideband, plane waves at various angles of incidence was collected by a synthetic array for three shells, a finite, air-filled, empty thin shell, a duplicate shell stiffened with four unequally spaced ring-stiffeners and a duplicate ribbed shell augmented by resiliently-mounted, wave-bearing, internal structural elements. Array and signal processing techniques, including source deconvolution, array weighting, conventional focusing and the removal of the geometrically scattered contribution, are used to transform the collected data to a more easily interpreted representation. The resulting waveforms show that part of the transient, dynamic, structural response of the shell surface which is capable of radiating to the far field. Compressional membrane waves are directly observable in this representation and evidence of flexural membrane waves is present. Comparisons between the shells show energy compartmentalized by the ring stiffeners and coupled into the wave-bearing internals. Energy calculations show a decay rate of 30dB/msec due to radiation for the Empty shell but only 10dB/msec for the other shells at bow incidence. The Radon Transform is used to estimate the reflection coefficient of compressional waves at the shell endcap as 0.2. The measurement array does not provide enough resolution to allow use of this technique to determine the reflection, transmission and coupling coefficients at the ring stiffeners. Therefore, a forward modeling technique is used to further analyze the 0° incidence case. This modeling couples a Transmission Line model of the shell with a Simulated Annealing approach to multi-dimensional, parameter estimation. This procedure estimates the compressional wavespeed at 5284m/sec and a compressional decay rate of 49dB/msec. Small cross-coupling coefficients between flexural and compressional wavetypes at the slope discontinuities on the Empty shell are found to be responsible for most of the radiation later in time. High reflection coefficients at the ring stiffeners on the Ribbed shell are shown to cause energy compartmentalization in the bays between ribs and pressure doubling of incident structural waves at the ribs.

Thesis

Effects of internal waves on low frequency, long range, acoustic propagation in the deep ocean

(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2007-09) Xu, Jinshan

This thesis covers a comprehensive analysis of long-range, deep-ocean, low-frequency, sound propagation experimental results obtained from the North Pacific Ocean. The statistics of acoustic fields after propagation through internal-wave-induced sound-speed fluctuations are explored experimentally and theoretically. The thesis starts with the investigation of the North Pacific Acoustic Laboratory 98-99 data by exploring the space-time scales of ocean sound speed variability and the contributions from different frequency bands. The validity of the Garret & Munk internal-wave model is checked in the upper ocean of the eastern North Pacific. All these results impose hard bounds on the strength and characteristic scales of sound speed fluctuations one might expect in this region of the North Pacific for both internal-wave band fluctuations and mesoscale band fluctuations. The thesis then presents a detailed analysis of the low frequency, broadband sound arrivals obtained in the North Pacific Ocean. The observed acoustic variability is compared with acoustic predictions based on the weak fluctuation theory of Rytov, and direct parabolic equation Monte Carlo simulations. The comparisons show that a resonance condition exists between the local acoustic ray and the internal wave field such that only the internal-waves whose crests are parallel to the local ray path will contribute to acoustic scattering: This effect leads to an important filtering of the acoustic spectra relative to the internal-wave spectra. We believe that this is the first observational evidence for the acoustic ray and internal wave resonance. Finally, the thesis examined the evolution with distance, of the acoustic arrival pattern of the off-axis sound source transmissions in the Long-range Ocean Acoustic Propagation EXperiment. The observations of mean intensity time-fronts are compared to the deterministic ray, parabolic equation (with/without internal waves) and (one-way coupled) normal mode calculations. It is found the diffraction effect is dominant in the shorter-range transmission. In the longer range, the (internal wave) scattering effect smears the energy in both the spatial and temporal scales and thus has a dominant role in the finale region.

Thesis

Forward sound propagation around seamounts : application of acoustic models to the Kermit-Roosevelt and Elvis seamounts

(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2009-06) Kim, Hyun Joe

The Basin Acoustic Seamount Scattering Experiment (BASSEX) of 2004 was conducted to measure forward-scattering around the Kermit-Roosevelt Seamount Complex in the Northeast Pacific. The BASSEX experiment was focused on the bathymetric effects on acoustic propagation, in particular, on direct blockage, horizontal refraction, diffraction, and scattering by the seamounts. A towed hydrophone array, with 64 sensors cut for 250Hz (3m spacing), was used to measure the signals transmitted from the aforementioned broadband sources at many locations around the Kermit-Roosevelt and Elvis seamounts. Utilizing the measured broadband signals from the towed array, the size of the shadow zone was obtained. The measured data in the BASSEX experiment strongly support the understanding of the complicated phenomena of sound propagation around the seamounts. In addition, the experimental data could be used to validate current 2D and 3D theoretical models and develop new models to properly realize the sound propagation with such complicated phenomena. In this thesis, the reconciliation between the measured pulse arrivals from the BASSEX experiment and various two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) theoretical models is carried out to investigate the physical characteristics of the sound propagation around seamounts: First, the 2D Parabolic Equation (PE) model and the 2D ray tracing model are used to reconcile each ray arrival with the BASSEX experiment in terms of arrival time and grazing angle. We construct a sound speed field database based on the sound speed profiles from the BASSEX experiment, World Ocean Atlas (WOA) 2005, and CTD casts using the objective analysis. Second, 3D broadband sound propagation around a conical seamount is investigated numerically using the 3D spectral coupled-mode model (W. Luo, PhD Thesis, MIT, 2007). Since the calculation of 3D broadband pulses with the spectral coupledmode model requires extensive computation time, a parallel program is developed with a clustered computing system to obtain results in reasonable time. The validation of the 3D spectral coupled-mode model is performed by a series of comparisons between the various 2D and 3D models for a shallow-water waveguide. The Kermit-Roosevelt seamount is modeled by a simple conical seamount for the 3D model. The computed 3D broadband pulses for the modeled conical seamount are compared with those from the BASSEX experiment and the 2D PE simulation. Through this analysis, we examine the limit of the application of the sound propagation models and improve the efficiency of the 3D sound propagation model using parallel computing to obtain a broadband pulse in a reasonable amount of time.

Thesis

Physically constrained maximum likelihood (PCML) mode filtering and its application as a pre-processing method for underwater acoustic communication

(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2009-09) Papp, Joseph C.

Mode filtering is most commonly implemented using the sampled mode shape or pseudoinverse algorithms. Buck et al placed these techniques in the context of a broader maximum a posteriori (MAP) framework. However, the MAP algorithm requires that the signal and noise statistics be known a priori. Adaptive array processing algorithms are candidates for improving performance without the need for a priori signal and noise statistics. A variant of the physically constrained, maximum likelihood (PCML) algorithm is developed for mode filtering that achieves the same performance as the MAP mode filter yet does not need a priori knowledge of the signal and noise statistics. The central innovation of this adaptive mode filter is that the received signal's sample covariance matrix, as estimated by the algorithm, is constrained to be that which can be physically realized given a modal propagation model and an appropriate noise model. The first simulation presented in this thesis models the acoustic pressure field as a complex Gaussian random vector and compares the performance of the pseudoinverse, reduced rank pseudoinverse, sampled mode shape, PCML minimum power distortionless response (MPDR), PCML-MAP, and MAP mode filters. The PCML-MAP filter performs as well as the MAP filter without the need for a priori data statistics. The PCML-MPDR filter performs nearly as well as the MAP filter as well, and avoids a sawtooth pattern that occurs with the reduced rank pseudoinverse filter. The second simulation presented models the underwater environment and broadband communication setup of the Shallow Water 2006 (SW06) experiment. Data processing results are presented from the Shallow Water 2006 experiment, showing the reduced sensitivity of the PCML-MPDR filter to white noise compared with the reduced rank pseudoinverse filter. Lastly, a linear, decision-directed, RLS equalizer is used to combine the response of several modes and its performance is compared with an equalizer applied directly to the data received on each hydrophone.

Thesis

Three-dimensional acoustic propagation through shallow water internal, surface gravity and bottom sediment waves

(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2011-09) Shmelev, Alexey A.

This thesis describes the physics of fully three-dimensional low frequency acoustic interaction with internal waves, bottom sediment waves and surface swell waves that are often observed in shallow waters and on continental slopes. A simple idealized model of the ocean waveguide is used to analytically study the properties of acoustic normal modes and their perturbations due to waves of each type. The combined approach of a semi-quantitative study based on the geometrical acoustics approximation and on fully three-dimensional coupled mode numerical modeling is used to examine the azimuthal dependence of sound wave horizontal reflection from, transmission through and ducting between straight parallel waves of each type. The impact of the natural crossings of nonlinear internal waves on horizontally ducted sound energy is studied theoretically and modeled numerically using a three-dimensional parabolic equation acoustic propagation code. A realistic sea surface elevation is synthesized from the directional spectrum of long swells and used for three-dimensional numerical modeling of acoustic propagation. As a result, considerable normal mode amplitude scintillations were observed and shown to be strongly dependent on horizontal azimuth, range and mode number. Full field numerical modeling of low frequency sound propagation through large sand waves located on a sloped bottom was performed using the high resolution bathymetry of the mouth of San Francisco Bay. Very strong acoustic ducting is shown to steer acoustic energy beams along the sand wave’s curved crests.

Thesis

Understanding and utilizing waveguide invariant range-frequency striations in ocean acoustic waveguides

(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2011-02) Cockrell, Kevin L.

Much of the recent research in ocean acoustics has focused on developing methods to exploit the effects that the sea surface and seafloor have on acoustic propagation. Many of those methods require detailed knowledge of the acoustic properties of the seafloor and the sound speed profile (SSP), which limits their applicability. The range-frequency waveguide invariant describes striations that often appear in plots of acoustic intensity versus range and frequency. These range-frequency striations have properties that depend strongly on the frequency of the acoustic source and on distance between the acoustic source and receiver, but that depend mildly on the SSP and seafloor properties. Because of this dependence, the waveguide invariant can be utilized for applications such as passive and active sonar, time-reversal mirrors, and array processing, even when the SSP or the seafloor properties are not well known. This thesis develops a framework for understanding and calculating the waveguide invariant, and uses that framework to develop signal processing techniques for the waveguide invariant. A method for passively estimating the range from an acoustic source to a receiver is developed, and tested on experimental data. Heuristics are developed to estimate the minimum source bandwidth and minimum horizontal aperture required for range estimation. A semi-analytic formula for the waveguide invariant is derived using WKB approximation along with a normal mode description of the acoustic field in a range-independent waveguide. This formula is applicable to waveguides with arbitrary SSPs, and reveals precisely how the SSP and the seafloor reflection coefficient affect the value of the waveguide invariant. Previous research has shown that the waveguide invariant range-frequency striations can be observed using a single hydrophone or a horizontal line array (HLA) of hydrophones. This thesis shows that traditional array processing techniques are sometimes inadequate for the purpose of observing range-frequency striations using a HLA. Array processing techniques designed specifically for observing range- frequency striations are developed and demonstrated. Finally, a relationship between the waveguide invariant and wavenumber integrations is derived, which may be useful for studying range-frequency striations in elastic environments such as ice-covered waveguides.

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Browsing WHOI Theses by Subject "Acoustic models"

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