TACTICAL OCEAN ACOUSTIC ENVIRONMENTS

AN EXAMINATION OF NEURAL NETWORK PROCESSING AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO HEAVY USE OF AN EXPERT OCEANOGRAPHER IN ORDER TO DETERMINE GULF STREAM POSITION IS WARRANTED DUE TO RECENT ADVANCE IN NEURAL NETWORK THEORY. THIS PROPOSAL PRESENTS AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO THE USE OF THESE NEW IDEAS AS THEY APPLY TO THE ANALYSIS OF SATELLITE DATA. THE NEURAL NETWORK WILL BE USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH EXISTING COMPLEX EMPIRICAL ORTHOGONAL FUNCTION (CEOF) SOFTWARE IN ORDER TO PROVIDE A SYSTEM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A USEFUL GULF STREAM POSITION DIRECTLY FROM SATELLITE IMAGERY WITHOUT OPERATOR ASSISTANCE. THE ADVANTAGES TO THIS APPROACH INCLUDE SPEED OF PROCESSING AND DECREASED RELIANCE ON EXPERT ANALYSIS OF SATELLITE DATA AND HOLD OPEN THE POSSIBILITY OF SHIPBOARD USE OF SUCH A SYSTEM. THE PROPOSED EFFORT WOULD DETERMINE THE VIABILITY OF SUCH A SCHEME AND ANALYZE THE CRUCIAL FACTORS NECESSARY FOR LARGE-SCALE DEVELOPMENT SUCH AS THE NUMBER OF NODES NEEDED AND THE LEARNING RULE FOR THE NETWORK. THESE CONSIDERATIONS DEMAND THE INVOLVEMENT OF EXPERIENCED USERS OF AVHRR SATELLITE DATA AS WELL AS SCIENTISTS COGNIZANT OF NEURAL NETWORK THEORY AND APPLICATIONS.