Tracking Dynamic Sources For Sonar Signal Processing

Sonar performance is characterized by its ability to distinguish intended targetsfrom background noise. Background noise includes both ambient noise in the oceanand interference from non-target ships. Non-target ships present moving noisesources which are not adequately suppressed by existing techniques. This projectwill estimate the extent two existing technologies can suppress moving noise sources.First, methods from mathematical finance will be used to model the time varyingcovariance of sonar noise, which is the key element of sonar detection with movingnoise sources. Second, a multi-target tracker will be integrated with the signalprocessing to provide an explicit model for moving noise sources. We will evaluatethe improvement in signal gain and interference rejection from these techniques. The proposed project will improve the ability of Naval sonar systems to detectmoving targets in the in the presence of moving acoustic interferers. Commercialapplications include identification of dynamic factors for financial analysis.