LONG RANGE ACOUSTIC CORRELATION CURRENT PROFILER

THIS PROPOSAL REQUESTS PHASE I FUNDING TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF EMPLOYING THE ACOUSTIC CORRELATION TECHNIQUE TO MEASURE HIGH RESOLUTION VERTICAL PROFILES OF HORIZONTAL OCEAN CURRENTS OVER RANGES OF SEVERAL THOUSAND METERS. THE GOAL OF THIS STUDY IS TO PROVIDE AN ADEQUATE ANALYTICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL BASIS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DEEP WATER ACOUSTIC CORRELATION CURRENT PROFILER (ACCP), WHICH MAY BE USED FOR IN-SITU AND SHIPBOARD MILITARY OCEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCH, COMMERCIAL DEEP OCEAN CURRENT PROFILING, AND BOTTOM TRACKING APPLICATIONS. THIS ACCP WILL EXTEND THE REMOTE ACOUSTIC CURRENT PROFILING RANGE FROM THE HUNDREDS OFMETERS CURRENTLY ACHIEVABLE WITH ACOUSTIC DOPPLER TECHNOLOGYTO THOUSANDS OF METERS, WHILE MAINTAINING COMPARABLE VELOCITY MEASUREMENT ACCURACY. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL PAY SIGNIFICANT ATTENTION TO EVALUATING THE PERFORMANCE OF ACCP'S, IMPLEMENTED AROUND WIDEBAND ACOUSTIC TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATIVE PULSE CODING TECHNIQUES. THESE WIDEBAND TECHNIQUES MAY IMPROVE CONSIDERABLY THE VELOCITY MEASUREMENTACCURACY OF CORRELATION SONARS BY INCREASING THE TIME-BANDWIDTH PRODUCT OF THE SIGNALS.