dc.description.abstract | Passive acoustic ranging in the underwater channel is a challenging task. It has
been studied and used in military applications such as passive sonar, but also by
marine biologists for mammal detection and ranging. Effective passive ranging
is challenging due to the complexity of the underwater channel, and the often
changing environmental parameters. Most methods also require a long array to
estimate bearing and distance at long ranges.
In this project a ranging method based on a ray model is studied. The source
range is estimated by comparing differences in signal time arrivals received on two
spatially separated hydrophones. The method is applied to data from two bottom
moored hydrophones from two different data sets in shallow water: one with the
hydrophones moored at 16m depth, the other at 200m. The method provides
stable range estimates of surface ships and small boats up to ranges of 700m, in
good correspondence with reference data. | |