CORRELATION SONAR SYSTEM FOR IMPROVED PLATFORM MOTION MEASUREMENTS

STATE-OF-THE-ART DOPPLER SONAR NAVIGATORS DO NOT PROVIDE SUFFICIENTLY PRECISE MEASUREMENT OF RELATIVE MOTION FOR USE WITH ADVANCED, HIGH DEFINITION, SONAR MAPPING SYSTEMS. THIS SHORT-COMING IS PARTICULARLY ACUTE WHERE THE REFLECTIVE SURFACE IS HIGHLY IRREGULAR, RELATIVE VELOCITIES ARE LOW, AND AVERAGING PERIODS ARE SHORT. IN CONTRAST, CORRELATION SONAR TECHNIQUES OVERCOME MANY OF THE INHERENT LIMITATIONSOF THE DOPPLER MODE. THE CORRELLATION MEASUREMENT SENSITIVITY IS GREATEST NORMAL TO THE ACOUSTIC AXIS AND IS ENHANCED BY REFLECTIVE SURFACE IRREGULARITIES. RESEARCH IS PROPOSED TO COMPLETE A SYSTEM DESIGN FOR A CORRELATION SONAR APPLICABLE TO HIGH DEFINITION SONAR PLATFORM MOTION MEASUREMENTS. HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ELEMENTS OF THE DESIGN WILL BE EVALUATED AND OPTIMIZED. SYSTEM PERFORMANCE WILL BE PREDICTED BASED UPON COMPUTER SIMULATION. A COST ESTIMATE FOR A PROTOTYPE SYSTEM WILL BE PREPARED TO FACILITATE AN OBJECTIVE COST VS. PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS.