Simulating the Gain of a Vertical Array in a Shallow Waveguide with a Rough Sea Surface

The influence of developed wind waves on the gain of a vertical array in shallow ocean waveguides is studied analytically and numerically. An algorithm is proposed for calculating the model correlation matrix of the signal at the aperture of the vertical array, taking into account the interference structure of the acoustic field in the sound channel. The antenna gain is analyzed for three spatial processing methods: standard phased array, optimal linear processing method, and optimal quadratic processing. The numerical simulation results for winter hydrological conditions in the Barents Sea are presented. The main focus is the dependence of the antenna gain values, “smoothed” on the scale of the interference structure of the acoustic field in the waveguide, the wind speed, and seabed sediment characteristics. The influence of intermode correlations on the results of gain simulation for various signal processing methods is analyzed in detail. It is shown that ignoring intermode correlations in the case of a vertical array leads to fundamentally erroneous results with optimal processing methods.