Modeling Sonar Responses of Targets Deployed On or In the Seafloor

Recent interest in understanding the potential advantages of nonconventional detection configurations, such as bistatic vs monostatic, has driven efforts to initiate the model refinements needed to study these configurations for simple targets deployed proud or buried on the seafloor. A benchmark quality capability for these targets is utilized so that unambiguous results are available for physical interpretation and analysis, both in laboratory sonar measurements as well as in sonar field tests using the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division’s (NSWC PCD) synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) systems. The long term goal of this effort is to investigate and compare how the physics of a target embedded in a given environment and sensed under different detection modes can affect both target signal-to-noise (SNR) and classification. This knowledge can then be used to improve sonar detection and classification of bottom targets.