DETECTION TECHNIQUES FOR ACOUSTIC NON-GAUSSIAN SIGNALS

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PHASE I STUDY IS TO DEVELOP AND EVALUATE EFFECTIVE DETECTION ALGORITHMS FOR NON-GAUSSIAN ACOUSTIC SIGNALS OF INTEREST IN UNDERWATER SENSING SYSTEMS. THIS GENERAL OBJECTIVE CAN BE DIVIDED INTO SEVERAL INTERMEDIATE OBJECTIVES, INCLUDING: THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUITABLE NON-GAUSSIAN MODELS FOR SIGNALS OF INTEREST; THE DERIVATION OF CANONICAL OPTIMUM ALGORITHMS FOR SIGNAL DETECTION BASED ON THESE MODELS; THE ANALYSIS OF THE PERFORMANCE OF THESE OPTIMUM ALGORITHM AND THEIR SUBOPTIMUM APPROXIMANTS; AND THE COMPARISON OF THIS PERFORMANCE AND THE ALGORITHMIC COMPLEXITY OF THE NEW DETECTION ALGORITHMS TO THOSE OF CONVENTIONAL DETECTION TECHNIQUES. THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THESE OBJECTIVES WILL ANSWER TWO BASIC QUESTIONS REGARDING THE FEASIBILITY OF THE PROPOSED APPROACH: WHAT PRACTICAL STRUCTURES CAN BE BEST USED TO DETECT NON-GAUSSIAN ACOUSTIC SIGNALS? AND, WHAT PERFORMANCE GAINS CAN BE EXPECTED THROUGH THE USE OF THESE STRUCTURES? THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS WILL PROVIDE THE BASIS FOR EXTENSIVE PHASE II EXPERIMENTATION WITH THE MOST PROMISING ALGORITHMS FOR DETECTING ACOUSTIC NON-GAUSSIAN SIGNALS. IN VIEW OF THE SUBSTANTIAL SUCCESS RESULTING FROM ANALOGOUS NON-GAUSSIAN NOISE STUDIED, IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT THIS WORK ON THE NON-GAUSSIAN SIGNAL PROBLEM COULD LEAD TO SIGNIFICANT ADVANCES IN THE CAPABILITY OF UNDERWATER ACOUSTIC SENSORS TO DETECT AND EXPLOIT SIGNALS OF INTEREST.