Coherent Active Sonar Waveform Analysis Using Pressure/Velocity Phase Comparison for Improved Detection and Classification

The objective of this Phase I effort is to develop a new means of detecting undersea targets in the reverberation return as well as in the forward scatter zone. Previous tests regarding Forward Scatter Detection had not been able to establish acceptable False Alarm Rates (FAR), at a sufficiently high Probability of Detection (PD) to warrant further development. However, newer developments using an array of co-located pressure and pressure gradient (i.e. velocity) sensors, showed potential as an undersea target detection mechanism. The proposed effort will follow up on these tests, both from a theoretical and practical measurement sense, to define sonobuoys which are capable of this new detection technique. Potential applications will be to the navy, as well as to homeland security for harbor defense and enemy diver detection.