3D Acoustic Model for Geometrically Constrained Environments

Geometrically constrained underwater environments abrogate the simplifying acoustic modeling assumption that energy can be modeled in a two-dimensional vertical plane. In these environments, current tools to perform navigation and passive and/or active sonar mission planning are inadequate. Furthermore, channel complexity makes it difficult to model acoustic communications. HRC proposes to upgrade the current Navy Standard Comprehensive Acoustic System Simulation, currently used in the Navys tactical decision aids for ASW sensor performance predictions and Acoustic Communications planning, to model propagation loss, reverberation, performance, and communications effectiveness in complex, 3-dimensional environments. HRC and its academic partner, ARL:UT, will first design upgrades to the reflection and scattering modeling and bookkeeping in the model, implementing upgrades in a prototype that will then be compared to academic, closed-form, and/or measured data sets, to determine the level of fidelity achieved by this initial set of upgrades. Next, the one-way propagation loss and eigenray model will be upgraded and validated. Once the modeling has been completed and validated, it will go through the Navys OAML process, during which the upgrades are subject to independent validation, and then implemented in Navy sensor performance and communication prediction systems, and through OAML, be made available for additional DoD applications.