Adaptive Wave Propagation Modeling

This paper discusses several current attempts to use acoustic and electromagnetic wave propagation for modeling physical phenomena and the role that wavelet analysis is playing in these eeorts. The rst problem involves recent application of wavelets to computational uid dynamics. The second problem involves geophysical modeling of the ocean oor, using acoustic waves, and wavelets have recently been shown to play an important role here already. The third problem involves modeling of SAR radar images in the context of automatic target recognition eeorts. The fourth problem is global illumination in computer graphics, i.e., simulation of reeected and absorbed light for everyday environments. The role of wavelets is more embryonic in these latter two areas, but there are some common principles in all of these modeling eeorts, and the methodology of wavelets seems well suited to certain aspects of these problems.