Joint CGS-AOML (Charting and Geodetic Service-Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory) Acoustical Bottom Echo-Formation Research 2: Field Experiment Results and Recommendations for Echo-Sounder Design

摘要

Field experiments were conducted to test and verify a mathematical model that has been developed to assess the effects of bottom roughness and material properties on bottom echo shape. The experiments were conducted in lower Chesapeake Bay. A unique, high resolution bottom profiler was used to measure bottom roughness profiles for input to the model. An extension to the model has been developed that considers bottom surface scattering as arising from a number of statistically independent patches within the transducer beam. The algorithm developed for removing ship motion from the observations suggests a new echo-sounder detector circuit based on an energy threshold. This circuit could be easily implemented with modern digital signal processing circuits, and it might be suitable for retro-fitting to existing echo-sounders.