Digital Computer Simulation Program for Studying Undersea Acoustic Detection Techniques

A digital computer simulation program system has been constructed to permit controlled experiments with detection techniques for underwater acoustic arrays. The first part of the system consists of a generator program to which one may specify, within broad limits, the positions and acoustic spectra of sound sources, the background noise level and transmission characteristics of the medium, and the positions and response characteristics of the detectors. For a particular test configuration the program generates samples of the amplitude of the resultant acoustic energy at each detector. By using a sample rate of 1200 samples per second, it is feasible to generate several seconds, or possibly minutes, of data. The second part of the system is a “pluggable unit” consisting of a processing program which embodies the particular detection logic to be investigated. One such processor, based on standard correlation techniques, is now being used to evaluate the system. This simulation system appears useful in three ways: first. it permits an examination of the performance of a particular signal detection method against a variety of inputs; second, it permits comparison of different signal detection techniques against typical inputs; finally, it represents an approach which may find application to other problems of acoustic detection. (The research in this document was supported jointly by the Army, Navy, and Air Force under contract with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.)