ATI's Advanced Topics In Underwater Acoustics course

Summary: This four-day course summarizes both basic and “leading-edge” topics in underwater acoustics. In each topic the basics principles are reviewed and then current achievements and challenges are addressed. The course provides an in-depth treatment, taught by experts in the field, of the latest results in a selection of core topics of underwater acoustics. Its aim is to make available practical results and lessons-learned in a tutorial form suitable for a broad range of people working in underwater acoustics and sonar. The course is designed for sonar systems engineers, combat systems engineers, undersea warfare professionals, and managers who wish to enhance their understanding and become familiar with the "big picture" of ocean acoustics and sonar. more info Instructors: Dr. Duncan Sheldon did his graduate work at MIT and earned the PhD Degree in 1969. He has over twenty-five years’ experience in the field of active sonar signal processing. A substantial portion of this experience was at the Navy’s undersea warfare laboratories at New London, CT, and Newport, RI. This experience consisted primarily of developing ASW detection and classification algorithms and new active sonar waveforms. His experience includes real-time direction at sea of surface sonar assets during ’free-play’ NATO ASW exercises. He was also a sonar supervisor during controlled and ’free-play’ NATO ASW exercises. He documented the results obtained at sea in reports published at the NATO Centre for undersea research at La Spezia, Italy. He has published articles in the U.S. Navy Journal of Underwater Acoustics. Paul C. Etter has worked in the fields of ocean-atmosphere physics and environmental acoustics for the past thirty- five years supporting federal and state agencies, academia and private industry. He received his BS degree in Physics and his MS degree in Oceanography at Texas A&M University. Mr. Etter served on active duty in the U.S. Navy as an Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Officer aboard frigates. He is the author or co-author of more than 180 technical reports and professional papers addressing environmental measurement technology, underwater acoustics and physical oceanography. Mr. Etter is the author of the textbook Underwater Acoustic Modeling and Simulation (3rd edition). Dr. Harold "Bud" Vincent, Research Associate Professor of Ocean Engineering at the University of Rhode Island and President of DBV Technology, LLC is a U.S. Naval officer qualified in submarine warfare and salvage diving. He has over twenty years of undersea systems experience working in industry, academia, and government (military and civilian). He served on active duty on fast attack and ballistic missile submarines, worked at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, and conducted advanced R&D in the defense industry. Dr. Vincent received the M.S. and Ph.D. in Ocean Engineering (Underwater Acoustics) from the University of Rhode Island. His teaching and research encompasses underwater acoustic systems, communications, signal processing, ocean instrumentation, and navigation. He has been awarded four patents for undersea systems and algorithms. Contact these instructors (please mention course name in the subject line) Course Objectives: Provide a general understanding of ocean acoustics and sonar principles Make attendees conversant with all aspects of ocean acoustics and sonar technology, engineering and performance assessment in the context of naval applications. Provide detailed, critical knowledge for understanding of basic concepts in ocean acoustics, physics and modeling, transduction technology and engineering, processing for sonar signal detection and estimation, and sonar system design and performance assessment. Provide understanding of the design, development and use of the acoustic propagation modeling software. Provide information and perspectives on new and emerging sonar technology and techniques and new sonar system configurations and functions. Course Outline: Sound and the Ocean Environment. Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD). Sound Velocity Profiles. Refraction, Transmission Loss, Attenuation, Surface and Bottom Effects. SONAR Equations Review of Active and Passive SONAR Equations, Decibels, Source Level, Sound Pressure Level, Intensity Level, Spectrum Level. Shallow Water Sound Propagation, Modeling and Sediment Acoustics ( Modal Propagation, Rays and Modes, Bottom Loss, Coupled normal Modes, PE, Sediment Acoustics-Biot theory and frequency dependent attenuation. Coherency .Summary tables (Day 2 Morning ) Signal Detection. Overcoming Noise and Reverberation, Normalization, Array Gain, Processing Gain, Beamforming, Time-delay and Frequency Spreading Effects. Active Sonar Waveforms. Narrowband and wideband alternatives. Ambiguity functions. Range-Doppler Coupling Effect. SONAR System Fundamentals. 4. SONAR System Fundamentals. Review of major system components in a SONAR system (transducers, signal conditioning, digitization, signal processing, displays and controls). Review of various SONAR systems (Hull, Towed, SideScan, MultiBeam, Communications, Navigation, etc.) SONAR Employment, Data and Information. Hull arrays, Towed Arrays. Their utilization to support Target Motion Analysis. Passive Ranging to an In-Coming Torpedo. Time-delay estimation algorithms. Target Motion Analysis (TMA). What it is, why it is done, how is SONAR used to support it, what other sensors are required to conduct it. Time-Bearing Analysis. How relative target motion affects bearing rate, ship maneuvers to compute passive range estimates (Ekelund Range). Use of Time-Bearing information to assess target motion. Time Frequency Analysis. Narrowband Doppler Shift, Wideband Doppler Transformation, Base Banding. Geographic Analysis. Use of Time-Bearing and Geographic information to analyze contact motion. Multi-sensor Data Fusion. SONAR, RADAR, ESM, Visual. Relative Motion Analysis and Display. Single steady contact, Single maneuvering contact, Multiple contacts, Acoustic Interference, Clutter. Tuition: For dedicated on-site pricing and availability request information HERE.