Estimating the Impulse Response of the Ocean: Correlation Versus Deconvolution

Abstract

The impulse response of an oceanic waveguide characterizes the propagation effects of the waveguide on a transmitted sequence. When the source signature is known, estimates of the impulse response can be obtained by processing signals received at sensors located in the waveguide, since the received signals are a convolution of the transmitted sequence and the impulse response. This chapter compares two approaches to ocean impulse response estimation, crosscorrelation and deconvolution, in the case of linear and hyperbolic frequency modulated source signals. It is shown that the nature of the transmitted sequence dictates whether correlation or deconvolution is the superior impulse response estimator.