Range and depth estimation by line arrays in shallow water

Abstract In shallow water sound propagates in terms of normal modes. The interference between the modes can be utilized to estimate range and depth of an acoustic source in shallow water by applying high resolution power estimators to a hydrophone array. The paper presents results obtained from a theoretical study based on a normal mode model. Various aspects are covered such as depth dependence of resolution, influence of surface fluctuations, comparison of horizontal and vertical line arrays and mismatch between processing and the acoustic field. Conclusions are drawn which give some more insight in the problems.