Robust Passive Sonar

Dr. Thomas J. Green, Jr.

Program Manager
September 2000
 Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW)

Cold War ASW Current Littoral ASW

~200 m
~2000 m

• Deep open ocean

• Long range propagation • Shallow water coastal regions
with no bottom interaction • Multipath propagation with
• Nuclear submarines significant attenuation
• Minimal shipping density • Quiet diesel-electric submarines
• Significant shipping noise
interference
• Dynamic engagements
 Littoral ASW Implications
Strait of Korea
April
50 200 Hz
400 Hz
60
800 Hz

Spectrum Level (dB re 1µP)

70

80

90

100
0 20 40 60 80 100
Range - km

September
50 200 Hz
400 Hz Frequency (Hz)
60 800 Hz
Average Ambient Noise Spectrum Levels (Wenz, 1962)

70
Loss of sensitivity due to
80 heavy shipping density can
90 produce dramatic reductions
100
0 20 40 60 80 100
in detection range
Range - km
 Matched Field Processing (MFP)
Free Space Propagation
Field Pattern
(Far-field) Sensor
Across Aperture
Array
Target •• Source Location

Aperture Distance
••
•• Phase Slope

Jammer φ •• Across Aperture

••
••
••
••
•
Amplitude (dB) Phase (deg)
Shallow Water Multipath Channel
Source Location

Aperture Distance
Ship Hydrophone Deterministic
Interferer Array Phase, Amplitude
Across Aperture

Target

Amplitude (dB) Phase (deg)

• Steering vector derived from propagation model

• Exploits channel multipath for detection/localization
• Adaptivity rejects interference and reduces sidelobes
• Main issues
– Robustness to environmental uncertainty
– Estimating scene statistics with limited snapshots
 SB Channel Experiment (SBCX)
Santa Barbara Channel Experiment (SBCX)
Merchant Ship Interference
Acoustic Explorer

Full Field Processing

(FFP) Array:
5 Vertical Line

~200 m
Arrays (VLAs)

Tilt Sensors
for Array 30 Phones
Element 5.7 m Spacing
Localization 10 – 1000 Hz
(AEL)

13
Fiber Optic Link

6
To Pt. Mugu

m
Objectives:
• Establish fundamental limits to signal and noise gains with
Adaptive Matched Field Processing (AMFP) for passive
broadband detection, localization, and classification
• Extrapolate measured performance to other threats,
environments, and sensors of interest
 Adaptive Target Localization
with Surface Ship Interference
Conventional MFP Adaptive MFP
0 0 0

Surface
Surface Ship
50 Ship 50

Relative Power (dB)

Target
-5
Depth (m)

100 100

-10
150 150

200 200 -15

1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
Range (km) Range (km)

AMFP utilizes adaptivity and environmental knowledge

to provide correct localization of weaker, submerged
source in the presence of surface interference
 Adaptive MFP
with Mode Filtering
Full rank AMFP Mode filtered AMFP
0 0

surface ship 105

Power (dB re µPa/Hz)

105
50 50
Depth (m)

towed source towed source 100

100
Depth (m)

100 100

95

95
150 150

90

90
200 200
2 4 2 4
Range (km)

• Modal filtering is designed to remove energy from surface

interference while retaining submerged source
• Lessens requirements for adaptive snapshot support
• Broadens MFP beam, decreasing losses from motion and
environmental mismatch
 Motion Compensation
Processing
Actual range (GPS) 1.70 to 2.45 km

No Motion Compensation With Motion Compensation

0 89 0 91
Spreading MFP peak
of MFP at focus

Power dB re 1 mPa/Hz
peak 86 88

Power dB re 1 mPa/Hz
50 50
Depth (m)

Depth (m)
83 85
100 100
80 82

150 150
77 79

SNR : 6.16 dB SNR : 10.14 dB

200 74 200 76
1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
Range (km) Range (km)
AX2 235 Hz augmentation tone
Observation time T=300 sec with 1 sec FFT window

• Motion compensation matrix adjusts for phase difference and amplitude

ratio of moving target as a function of time
• Compensation increases signal gain and mitigates sidelobes
– Eliminates smearing loss of 4 dB in the interference-free scenario
– Additional SINR gain when interferers on different tracks are de-focused
 Multi-VLA Processing
with Motion Compensation
1 VLA Without Motion Compensation 2 VLAs
• Tilt of single VLA gives
1.
25

1.
25
coarse bearing
km

km
• Multiple VLA
2.

processing gives

2.
25

25
km

km
incoherent average
0
• Full array resolution not
achieved -3

Relative Power (dB)

-6

-9

2 VLAs With Motion Compensation 3 VLAs -12

• Differential Doppler
1.

-15

1.
25

25
km

across FFP baseline

km
corrected prior to
2.

covariance estimation

2.
25

25
km

km
Full array resolution
achieved with
compensation
Data: AX2, 235 Hz
 Robust Passive Sonar

Target sensors:
TB-29
• Large aperture with
many elements
• Heading sensors to
support advanced
processing
SURTASS
Twin Line
Prototype
Sensors

Revolutionary Tactical Control for Littoral ASW:

> 10 dB Gain in Figure of Merit
 Approach

• Conduct system analysis for performance assessment

• Extend SBCX concepts to tactical systems

• Integrate processing techniques into end-to-end sonar

• Conduct focused sea tests and experiments

• Utilize high-quality, ground-truthed tactical data sets to

verify performance
 We Need Your Help!
Technology Areas
• Systems analysis
• End-to-End processing systems
• Advanced beamforming concepts
• Automation
• et al.

Procurement Plans
• Broad Agency Announcement
• Unsolicited white papers

New Ideas Needed