A Ray Model-Based Approach to Deep-sea Elevation Reverberation Modeling

This paper establishes a reverberation model for deep-sea upward-looking active sonar detection based on rayacoustic theory. Reverberation, as a major background interference in active sonar target detection, plays a critical role in reducing detection performance. The reverberation signal, which is similar in frequency characteristics to the transmitted signal, is influenced by the spatial position of the sound source and the intensity of the emitted signal. In the upward-looking active sonar detection mode, the reverberation from both the sea surface and the seabed severely interfere with the target detection process. The paper discusses the physical mechanism and the formation of the reverberation in this mode, as well as its impact on the active sonar system's detection range and parameter estimation. The study introduces a ray-acoustic model that addresses the challenges of eliminating false eigenrays and provides a high-fidelity prediction of incoherent reverberation intensity and time-domain waveforms. Through numerical simulations using both the August South China Sea sound speed profile and the Munk sound speed profile, the model's accuracy is validated. The results show the evolution of the reverberation strength over time and provide valuable insights for enhancing sonar system performance in deep-sea environments. This model contributes to improving the accuracy and reliability of target detection in deep-sea upward-looking sonar systems.