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Separating raypaths in a multipath shallow-water environment is a challenge due to the interferences between them and the colored noise that exists in an ocean environment, especially for two raypaths that arrive close to each other. Thus, in this paper, a three-dimensional (3D) higher-order raypath separation in an array to array configuration is proposed. Performance tests using simulation data in a multipath environment, real data obtained in an ultrasonic waveguide, and ocean shallow-water data, respectively, illustrate that the proposed algorithm achieves a higher resolution and a stronger robustness compared to the existing algorithms.

A dramatic slowing down of acoustic wave transport in dense fish shoals is observed in open-sea fish cages. By employing a multi-beam ultrasonic antenna, we observe the coherent backscattering phenomenon. We extract key parameters of wave transport such as the transport mean free path and the energy transport velocity of diffusive waves from diffusion theory fits to the experimental data. The energy transport velocity is found to be about 10 times smaller than the speed of sound in water, a value that is exceptionally low compared with most observations in acoustics. By studying different models of the fish body, we explain the basic mechanism responsible for the observed very slow transport of ultrasonic waves in dense fish shoals. Our results show that, while the fish swim bladder plays an important role in wave scattering, other organs have to be considered to explain ultra-low energy transport velocities., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Cross-correlations of ambient noise averaged at two receivers lead to the reconstruction of the two-point Green's function, provided that the wave-field is uniform azimuthally, and also temporally and spatially uncorrelated. This condition depends on the spatial distribution of the sources and the presence of heterogeneities that act as uncorrelated secondary sources. This study aims to evaluate the relative contributions of source distribution and medium complexity in the two-point cross-correlations by means of numerical simulations and laboratory experiments in a finite-size reverberant two-dimensional (2D) plate. The experiments show that the fit between the cross-correlation and the 2D Green's function depends strongly on the nature of the source used to excite the plate. A turbulent air-jet produces a spatially uncorrelated acoustic field that rapidly builds up the Green's function. On the other hand, extracting the Green's function from cross-correlations of point-like sources requires more realizations and long recordings to balance the effect of the most energetic first arrivals. When the Green's function involves other arrivals than the direct wave, numerical simulations confirm the better Green's function reconstruction with a spatially uniform source distribution than the typical contour-like source distribution surrounding the receivers that systematically gives rise to spurious phases.

For shallow-water waveguides and mid-frequency broadband acoustic signals, ocean acoustic tomography (OAT) is based on the multi-path aspect of wave propagation. Using arrays in emission and reception and advanced array processing, every acoustic arrival can be isolated and matched to an eigenray that is defined not only by its travel time but also by its launch and reception angles. Classically, OAT uses travel-time variations to retrieve sound-speed perturbations; this assumes very accurate source-to-receiver clock synchronization. This letter uses numerical simulations to demonstrate that launch-and-reception-angle tomography gives similar results to travel-time tomography without the same requirement for high-precision synchronization.

Data collected over more than eight consecutive hours between two source-receiver arrays in a shallow water environment are analyzed through the physics of the waveguide invariant. In particular, the use of vertical arrays on both the source and receiver sides provides source and receiver angles in addition to travel-times associated with a set of eigenray paths in the waveguide. From the travel-times and the source-receiver angles, the eigenrays are projected into a group-velocity versus phase-velocity (Vg-Vp) plot for each acquisition. The time evolution of the Vg-Vp representation over the 8.5-h long experiment is discussed. Group speed fluctuations observed for a set of eigenrays with turning points at different depths in the water column are compared to the Brunt-Väisälä frequency.

Ambient noise was recorded on two vertical line arrays (VLAs) separated by 450 m and deployed in shallow water (depth ~150 m) off San Diego, CA continuously for 6 days. Recordings were dominated by non-stationary and non-uniform broadband shipping noise (250 Hz to 1.5 kHz). Stable coherent noise wavefronts were extracted from ambient noise correlations between the VLAs during all 6 days by mitigating the effect of discrete shipping events and using array beamforming with data-derived steering vectors. This procedure allows the tracking of arrival-time variations of these coherent wavefronts during 6 days and may help in developing future passive acoustic tomography systems.

Extracting coherent wavefronts between passive receivers using cross-correlations of ambient noise (CAN) provides a means for monitoring the seismoacoustic environment without using active sources. However, using cross-correlations between single receivers can require a long recording time in order to extract stable coherent arrivals from CAN. This becomes an issue if the propagation medium fluctuates significantly during the recording period. To address this issue, this article presents a general spatio-temporal filtering procedure to enhance the emergence rate for coherent wavefronts extracted from time-averaged ambient noise correlations between two spatially separated arrays. The robustness of this array-based CAN technique is investigated using ambient shipping noise recorded over 24 h in the frequency band [250-850 Hz] on two vertical line arrays deployed 143 m apart in shallow water (depth 20 m). Experimental results confirm that the array-based CAN technique can significantly reduce the recording duration (e.g., from 22 h to 30 min) required for extracting coherent wavefronts of sufficient amplitude (e.g., 20 dB over residual temporal fluctations) when compared to conventional CAN implementations between single pairs of hydrophones. These improvements of the CAN technique could benefit the development of noise-based ocean monitoring applications such as passive acoustic tomography.

Acoustic tomography in a shallow ultrasonic waveguide is demonstrated at the laboratory scale between two source-receiver arrays. At a 1/1,000 scale, the waveguide represents a 1.1-km-long, 52-m-deep ocean acoustic channel in the kilohertz frequency range. Two coplanar arrays record the transfer matrix in the time domain of the waveguide between each pair of source-receiver transducers. A time-domain, double-beamforming algorithm is simultaneously performed on the source and receiver arrays that projects the multi-reflected acoustic echoes into an equivalent set of eigenrays, which are characterized by their travel times and their launch and arrival angles. Travel-time differences are measured for each eigenray every 0.1 s when a thermal plume is generated at a given location in the waveguide. Travel-time tomography inversion is then performed using two forward models based either on ray theory or on the diffraction-based sensitivity kernel. The spatially resolved range and depth inversion data confirm the feasibility of acoustic tomography in shallow water. Comparisons are made between inversion results at 1 and 3 MHz with the inversion procedure using ray theory or the finite-frequency approach. The influence of surface fluctuations at the air-water interface is shown and discussed in the framework of shallow-water ocean tomography., (© 2011 Acoustical Society of America)

People are familiar with the acoustic feedback phenomenon, which results in a loud sound that is heard when a musician plays an electric instrument directly into a speaker. Acoustic feedback occurs when a source and a receiver are connected both acoustically through the propagation medium and electrically through an amplifier, such that the amplified received signal is continuously re-emitted by the source. The acoustic feedback can be initiated from a continuous sine wave. When the emitter and the receiver are in phase, resonance is obtained, which appears to be highly sensitive to any fluctuation of the propagation medium. Another procedure consists in initiating the acoustic feedback from a continuous loop of ambient noise. It then generates an unstable self-sustained feedback oscillator (SFO) that is tested here as a method for monitoring temperature fluctuations of a shallow-water oceanic environment. The goal of the present study is to reproduce and study the SFO at the laboratory scale in an ultrasonic waveguide. The experimental results demonstrate the potential applications of the SFO for the detection of a target in the framework of the acoustic-barrier problem in shallow-water acoustics., (© 2011 Acoustical Society of America)

This study demonstrates experimentally at the laboratory scale the detection and localization of a wavelength-sized target in a shallow ultrasonic waveguide between two source-receiver arrays at 3 MHz. In the framework of the acoustic barrier problem, at the 1/1000 scale, the waveguide represents a 1.1-km-long, 52-m-deep ocean acoustic channel in the kilohertz frequency range. The two coplanar arrays record in the time-domain the transfer matrix of the waveguide between each pair of source-receiver transducers. Invoking the reciprocity principle, a time-domain double-beamforming algorithm is simultaneously performed on the source and receiver arrays. This array processing projects the multireverberated acoustic echoes into an equivalent set of eigenrays, which are defined by their launch and arrival angles. Comparison is made between the intensity of each eigenray without and with a target for detection in the waveguide. Localization is performed through tomography inversion of the acoustic impedance of the target, using all of the eigenrays extracted from double beamforming. The use of the diffraction-based sensitivity kernel for each eigenray provides both the localization and the signature of the target. Experimental results are shown in the presence of surface waves, and methodological issues are discussed for detection and localization.

A geoacoustic inversion scheme based on a double beamforming algorithm in shallow water is proposed and tested. Double beamforming allows identification of multi-reverberated eigenrays propagating between two vertical transducer arrays according to their emission and reception angles and arrival times. Analysis of eigenray intensities yields the bottom reflection coefficient as a function of angle of incidence. By fitting the experimental reflection coefficient with a theoretical prediction, values of the acoustic parameters of the waveguide bottom can be extracted. The procedure was initially tested in a small-scale tank experiment for a waveguide with a Plexiglas bottom. Inversion results for the speed of shear waves in Plexiglas are in good agreement with the table values. A similar analysis was applied to data collected during an at-sea experiment in shallow coastal waters of the Mediterranean. Bottom reflection coefficient was fitted with the theory in which bottom sediments are modeled as a multi-layered system. Retrieved bottom parameters are in quantitative agreement with those determined from a prior inversion scheme performed in the same area. The present study confirms the interest in processing source-receiver array data through the double beamforming algorithm, and indicates the potential for application of eigenray intensity analysis to geoacoustic inversion problems.

Acoustic remote sensing of the oceans requires a detailed understanding of the acoustic forward problem. The results of a shallow-water transmission experiment between a vertical array of sources and a vertical array of receivers are reported. The source array is used to provide additional degrees of freedom to isolate and track raylike arrivals by beamforming over both source and receiver arrays. The coordinated source-receiver array processing procedure is presented and its effectiveness in an example of tracking raylike arrivals in a fluctuating ocean environment is shown. Many of these arrivals can be tracked over an hour or more and show slowly varying amplitude and phase. The use of a double-beamforming algorithm lays the foundation for shallow-water acoustic remote sensing using travel time and source and receive angles of selected eigenrays.

Acoustic waves traveling in a shallow-water waveguide produce a set of multiple paths that can be characterized as a geometric approximation by their travel time (TT), direction of arrival (DOA), and direction of departure (DOD). This study introduces the use of the DOA and DOD as additional observables that can be combined to the classical TT to track sound-speed perturbations in an oceanic waveguide. To model the TT, DOA, and DOD variations induced by sound-speed perturbations, the three following steps are used: (1) In the first-order Born approximation, the Fréchet kernel provides a linear link between the signal fluctuations and the sound-speed perturbations; (2) a double-beamforming algorithm is used to transform the signal fluctuations received on two source-receiver arrays in the time, receiver-depth, and source-depth domain into the eigenray equivalent measured in the time, reception-angle and launch angle domain; and finally (3) the TT, DOA, and DOD variations are extracted from the double-beamformed signal variations through a first-order Taylor development. As a result, time-angle sensitivity kernels are defined and used to build a linear relationship between the observable variations and the sound-speed perturbations. This approach is validated with parabolic-equation simulations in a shallow-water ocean context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time-reversing the transfer function between a time-reversal mirror (TRM) and a distant probe source location generates an acoustic spatio-temporal focus at the location. It is shown that a TR focus behaves as a “virtual” source (in the far-field limit) in the outbound direction with respect to the TRM. By extension, a collection of TRM-to-probe source transfer functions constitutes a virtual source array (VSA) that can serve as a remote platform for active imaging methods such as beam-steering and other coherent wavefront techniques. As a demonstration, a set of a-priori sampled TRM-to-VSA transfer functions are steered to coherently focus at a selected location beyond the VSA for which the transfer function is not known a-priori. In this case the VSA acts as a lens that refocuses the TRM field to the target location. Under proper conditions, the resolution is comparable to that of standard TR. While the specific application of active focusing is presented as a validation of the concept, the relationship between coherent focusing and the transfer function implies that the virtual array concept may find use in a range of imaging methods, both active and passive. Possible applications are discussed, and simulation and experimental results are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have shown that small changes can be monitored in a scattering medium by observing phase shifts in the coda. Passive monitoring of weak changes through ambient noise correlation has already been applied to seismology, acoustics, and engineering. Usually, this is done under the assumption that a properly reconstructed Green function (GF), as well as stable background noise sources, is necessary. In order to further develop this monitoring technique, a laboratory experiment was performed in the 2.5 MHz range in a gel with scattering inclusions, comparing an active (pulse-echo) form of monitoring to a passive (correlation) one. Present results show that temperature changes in the medium can be observed even if the GF of the medium is not reconstructed. Moreover, this article establishes that the GF reconstruction in the correlations is not a necessary condition: The only condition to monitoring with correlation (passive experiment) is the relative stability of the background noise structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The time-domain cross correlation of incoherent and random noise recorded by a series of passive sensors contains the impulse response of the medium between these sensors. By using noise generated by a can of compressed air sprayed on the surface of a plexiglass plate, we are able to reconstruct not only the time of flight but the whole wave forms between the sensors. From the reconstruction of the direct A0 and S0 waves, we derive the dispersion curves of the flexural waves, thus estimating the mechanical properties of the material without a conventional electromechanical source. The dense array of receivers employed here allow a precise frequency-wavenumber study of flexural waves, along with a thorough evaluation of the rate of convergence of the correlation with respect to the record length, the frequency, and the distance between the receivers. The reconstruction of the actual amplitude and attenuation of the impulse response is also addressed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Doppler-based method for using a moving narrow-band source to extract the modes of acoustic propagation in a range-independent shallow ocean waveguide over a partial-water-column spanning vertical line array (VLA) is introduced. Because the modal components propagate at distinct frequencies in the case of uniform radial source motion, the modal depth functions may be isolated and extracted from a frequency decomposition of the field. Because Doppler broadening due to radial source accelerations degrades the effectiveness of the extraction method, the method incorporates a technique to compensate for Doppler broadening. As the basis for the compensation technique, a theory is introduced for describing the VLA field from an accelerating cw source. By connecting the range of the source at the time a signal feature is emitted (the retarded time) to the range of the source at the time the signal feature arrives at the receiver (the contemporary time), the theory incorporates the Doppler effects associated with the finite group velocities of the modal components. The mode extraction method and compensation technique are applied to simulation and ocean data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial resolution of the focused field of a classical time-reversal mirror has a wavelength-order λ diffraction limit. Previously reported results for subwavelength focus require either the full knowledge of the original source or the evanescent waves in the near field. Here it is shown that subwavelength focusing can be achieved without a priori knowledge of the original probe source. If the field is recorded at a few wavelengths away from the probe source, where the amplitude of the near field is too low for subwavelength focusing, it is shown that the low amplitude near field can be amplified and the spatial resolution improved, using the near-field time reversal (NTR) procedure introduced here. The NTR is performed from the phase of the spatial spectrum of the field recorded on an array around the original probe source using an analytical continuation for the amplitude of the spatial spectrum. Following theory, λ/20 resolution is experimentally demonstrated with audible acoustic wavefields in the air. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A challenge for the aquaculture community has long been the development of harmless techniques for monitoring fish in a tank. Acoustic telemetry has been used to monitor fish swimming behavior, and passive acoustics have been used to monitor fish feeding, but new techniques are needed to monitor non-invasively their numbers and growth rates. Recently, it has been demonstrated that the acoustical total scattering cross section of fish swimming in a tank can be measured from multiple reverberation time series. These measurements have been used successfully to estimate the number of fish in a tank in laboratory conditions, and to characterize their acoustical signatures. Here, we introduce a novel method for acoustically monitoring fish numerical density and behavior, and measuring their growth rates over long periods of time. These measurements can be performed remotely, without human interaction with the fish, and are harmless. To demonstrate the efficiency of these techniques, the number of sea bass, as well as the behaviors of sardines, rockfish and sea bass, in different tanks were monitored. Also, the growth rates of a group of starved sardines and a group of fed sardines were measured acoustically, over 1 month. For comparison, their average weight was measured once per week. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

It has been demonstrated experimentally and theoretically that an estimate of the Green’s function between two receivers can be obtained from the time derivative of the long-time average ambient noise function cross-correlation function between these two receivers. The emergence rate of the deterministic coherent arrival times of the cross-correlation function, which yield an estimate of the Green’s function, from the recordings of an isotropic distribution of random noise sources is studied by evaluating the amplitude of the variance of the cross-correlation function. The leading term in the expression of the variance depends on the recorded energy by both receivers and the time-bandwidth product of the recordings. The variance of the time derivative of the correlation function has a similar dependency. These simple analytic formulas show a good agreement with the variance determined experimentally for the correlation of ocean ambient noise for averaging time varying from 1 to 33 min. The data were recorded in shallow water at a depth of 21-m water depth in the frequency band [300–530 Hz] for receivers separation up to 28 m. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time reversal has been shown as an effective way to focus in both time and space. The temporal focusing properties have been used extensively in underwater acoustics communications. Typical time-reversal communication experiments use vertical transducer arrays both to increase the signal-to-noise ratio and decrease the temporal sidelobes created in the time reversal process. Comparable temporal focusing is achieved using a horizontal array. In this paper, synthetic aperture time-reversal communications are accomplished, requiring only two transducers (one transmitter and one receiver). Deriving results from an at-sea experiment, this work confirms the viability of synthetic aperture time-reversal communications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a shallow ocean waveguide the acoustic field can be characterized by depth-dependent modes propagating in range with an associated propagating wavenumber. Though recently developed methods for determining the modes from recorded acoustic data alone without ocean or bottom modeling have shown promise, they are only applicable when the acoustic field is sampled over the entire water column. This paper presents a method for determining the acoustic modes from measured data alone when the field is sampled over only a portion of the water column. The method requires broadband sources at many ranges, e.g., a moving source, in order to construct the frequency-wavenumber (f-k) structure of the waveguide. Because modal propagation is dispersive, the modes are characterized by a discrete set of wavenumbers that vary continuously with frequency. Due to the discreteness of the modal wavenumbers, it is possible to isolate the modes in the f-k domain and extract them individually with a singular value decomposition (SVD). Because the modes are extracted individually the full-spanning and degeneracy limitations of the SVD are removed. Theory, simulation, and laboratory data confirm the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been experimentally demonstrated that the Green’s function between two points could be recovered using the cross-correlation function of the ambient noise measured at these two points. This paper investigates the theory behind this result in the simple case of a homogeneous medium with attenuation. © 2005 Acoustical Society of America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coherent deterministic arrival times can be extracted from the derivative of the time-averaged ambient noise cross-correlation function between two receivers. These coherent arrival times are related to those of the time-domain Green’s function between these two receivers and have been observed experimentally in various environments and frequency range of interest (e.g., in ultrasonics, seismology, or underwater acoustics). This nonintuitive result can be demonstrated based on a simple time-domain image formulation of the noise cross-correlation function, for a uniform distribution of noise sources in a Pekeris waveguide. This image formulation determines the influence of the noise-source distribution (in range and depth) as well as the dependence on the receiver bandwidth for the arrival-time structure of the derivative of the cross-correlation function. These results are compared with previously derived formulations of the ambient noise cross-correlation function. Practical implications of these results for sea experiments are also discussed. © 2005 Acoustical Society of America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modes and wavenumbers are the principal ingredients that characterize the pressure field in an oceanic waveguide. However, wavenumber and mode inversions are well-known to be a difficult task in underwater acoustics. Moreover, this double inversion has never been performed simultaneously from the same configuration of emitters and receivers. We present a new approach to this problem in a shallow water environment between two vertical arrays of sources and receivers. Starting from a classical modal decomposition of the pressure field, our algorithm focuses on a specific treatment of phase and amplitude variables. The key idea is to run a three-stage optimization by working separately on the phase and amplitude of the acoustic field. The high number of variables of the problem is turned into an advantage by using an adjoint code generated by an Automatic Differentiation software. Numerical results in the presence of noise show that modes and wavenumbers are estimated with a high accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A hybrid method coupling nonlinear and linear propagation codes is used to study the nonlinear signature of long-range acoustic propagation for high-amplitude sources in an ocean waveguide. The differences between linear and nonlinear propagation are investigated in deep and shallow water environments. The spectral reshaping that occurs in nonlinear propagation induces two main effects: in shallow water, an unusual arrival time structure in the lowest order modes is observed, and in both shallow and deep water environments, there is a tendency to have acoustic energy more uniformly distributed across modes. Further, parametric low-frequency generation in deep water is a candidate for the coupling between water and sediments for T-wave formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an original way to perform wave number inversion from simulated data obtained in a noisy shallow-water environment. In the studied configuration an acoustic source is horizontally towed with respect to a vertical hydrophone array. The inversion is achieved from the combination of three ingredients. First, a modified version of the Prony algorithm is presented and numerical comparison is made to another high-resolution wave number inversion algorithm based on the matrix-pencil technique. Second, knowing that these high-resolution algorithms are classically sensitive to noise, the use of a holographic array processing enables improvement of the signal-to-noise ratio before the inversion is performed. Last, particular care is taken in the representations of the solutions in the wave number space to improve resolution without suffering from aliasing. The dependence of this wave number inversion algorithm on the relevant parameters of the problem is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent letter, Ye and Chu comment on a previously published paper by the present authors [''Multiple scattering in a reflecting cavity: Application to fish counting in a tank,'' J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 109, 2587-2597 (2001)]. This reply answers the questions asked in that letter and seeks to clarify some of the details in the original paper that may have led to a misunderstanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]