LOW FREQUENCY TRANSIENT DETECTION/SOURCE LOCALIZATION PROCESSOR FOR SONOBUOYS

DEVELOPMENT OF A CAPABILITY FOR EXPLOITING TRANSIENTS EMITTED BY A SUBMARINE DURING AN AIRBORNE ASW SEARCH OPERATION WILL REQUIRE MULTIPLE SONOBUOY PROCESSING TECHNIQUES WHICH CAN: OPERATE IN PARALLEL WITH NORMAL NARROWBAND/BROADBAND PROCESSING; PROVIDE SOME DEGREE OF AUTOMATION FOR TRANSIENT DETECTION; AND INVOLVE PROCESSING HARDWARE COMMENSURATE WITH AIRCRAFT LIMITATIONS. WITH MANY BUOY CHANNELS TO PROCESS SIMULTANEOUSLY, AND WITH A BORAD RANGE OF TRANSIENTS TO SEARCH FOR, STANDARD TRANSIENT PROCESSING APPROACHES WITH RAPIDLY SATURATED THE ON-BOARD RESOURCES. THE SEISMIC EXPLORATION CLASS OF TECHNIQUES CALLED MIGRATION ARE SHOWN IN THIS PROPOSAL TO PROVIDE A CORRECT CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE MULTICHANNEL PROBLEM WITH UNKNOWN TRANSIENT SIGNAL CHARACTERISTICS. IT IS PROPOSED TO INVESTIGATE A PROCESSING APPROACH BASED ON MIGRATION IN SEVERAL SUCCINCT STEPS: REVIEWING MIGRATION ALGORITHMS AND CHARACTERISTICS, PARTICULARLY FK-BASED APPROACHES; DEFINING SIGNAL AND SONOBUOY FIELD PARAMETERS FROM AVAILABLE DATA BASES ON AIRBORNE ASW OPERATIONS AND U.S. SUBMARINE TRANSIENT PROPERTIES; CONDUCTING SIMULATIONS OF BASIC MIGRATION PROCESS TO UNDERSTAND GEOMETRY SENSITIVITIES AND BASELINE PERFORMANCE, ANALYZING OTHER SEISMIC TECHNIQUES FOR PRE-MIGRATION SIGNAL CONDITIONING; AND ANALYZING PROCESSOR SIZING FOR A CONCEPTUAL MIGRATION SYSTEM. THE FINAL TASK WILL CONSIST OF DEFINING AN APPROACH TO DETAIL FEASIBILITY DEMONSTRATION VIA A LABORATORY TEST BED IN PHASE II.