Broadband acoustic scattering measurements of underwater unexploded ordnance (UXO)

Probing with Each Step: How a Walking Crab-like Robot Classifies Buried Cylinders in Sand with Hall-Effect Sensors

Shallow underwater environments around the world are contaminated with unexploded ordnances (UXOs). Current state-of-the-art methods for UXO detection and localization use remote sensing systems. Furthermore, human divers are often tasked with confirming UXO existence and retrieval which poses health and safety hazards. In this paper, we describe the application of a crab robot with leg-embedded Hall effect-based sensors to detect and distinguish between UXOs and non-magnetic objects partially buried in sand. The sensors consist of Hall-effect magnetometers and permanent magnets embedded in load bearing compliant segments. The magnetometers are sensitive to magnetic objects in close proximity to the legs and their movement relative to embedded magnets, allowing for both proximity and force-related feedback in dynamically obtained measurements. A dataset of three-axis measurements is collected as the robot steps near and over different UXOs and UXO-like objects, and a convolutional neural network is trained on time domain inputs and evaluated by 5-fold cross validation. Additionally, we propose a novel method for interpreting the importance of measurements in the time domain for the trained classifier. The results demonstrate the potential for accurate and efficient UXO and non-UXO discrimination in the field.

Inferring the characteristics of marine sediments from the acoustic response of a known, partially buried object

We investigate the feasibility of using a known elastic target located near the seabed for the purpose of inferring characteristics of marine sediment. In the problem considered the object position and its burial depth are not known with precision. First, the admittance matrix of the elastic object is determined (numerically or experimentally) over a wide frequency range in the structural acoustic regime. Then, the equivalent source method (ESM) coupled with a spectral representation of the Green's functions in stratified domains is used to predict the object acoustic signature in various environments and experimental configurations. The resulting solver takes into account all multiple scattering between target (buried or not), sea floor, and sea surface and is not limited to short distances. After presenting the solution to the forward problem several synthetic inversions for sediment characteristics are shown. They are based upon a resonance-based misfit function we describe. The Bayesian procedure also infers object burial and source-object range, broadening its range of application.

Bistatic scattering of an elastic object using the structural admittance and noise-based holographic measurements

This paper presents a method to calculate the bistatic response of an elastic object immersed in a fluid using its structural Green's function (in vacuo structural admittance matrix), calculated by placing the object in a spatially random noise field in air. The field separation technique and equivalent source method are used to reconstruct pressure and velocity fields at the object's surface from pressure measurements recorded on two conformal holographic surfaces surrounding the object. Accurate reconstruction of the surface velocity requires subtraction of the rigid body response computed using a finite element approach. The velocity and pressure fields on the surface lead to the extraction of the in vacuo structural admittance matrix of the elastic object, which is manipulated to yield the farfield bistatic response for a fluid-loaded target for several angles of incidence. This method allows the computation of the scattering properties of an elastic object using exclusive information calculated on its surface (no knowledge of the internal structure required). A numerical experiment involving a cylindrical shell with hemispherical caps is presented, and its bistatic response in water shows excellent agreement with a finite element solution.

Sparse estimation of backscattered echoes from underwater object using integrated dictionaries

The problem of time-delays estimation of backscattered echoes from underwater targets is presented using a sparse reconstruction framework employing an integrated dictionary. To achieve high resolution, the used dictionary is usually defined over a finely spaced grid over the region of interest. Such a procedure may result in problems of being computational cumbersome or suffering from basis mismatch. In addition, the shape of the backscattered echoes may differ significantly from the expected waveforms used to form the dictionary, causing further mismatch problems. To alleviate such problems, the use of an integrated dictionary framework is introduced. Unlike traditional dictionaries that are defined over a set of grid points, the elements in an integrated dictionary are formed by integrating the expected waveform over bands of the parameter space. The resulting dictionary may be used to find initial regions of the parameters of interest using a smaller dictionary than otherwise required, without suffering a loss of performance. The elements can also better match with the backscattered echoes, even if these differ from their expected shape. Simulated results of the backscattered echoes from a cylindrical shell, as well as results from experimental measurements, illustrate the performance of the proposed method.

Multistatic acoustic characterization of seabed targets

One application for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) is detecting and classifying hazardous objects on the seabed. An acoustic approach to this problem has been studied in which an acoustic source insonifies seabed target while receiving AUVs with passive sensing payloads discriminate targets based on features of the three dimensional scattered fields. The OASES-SCATT simulator was used to study how scattering data collected by mobile receivers around targets insonified by mobile sources might be used for sphere and cylinder target characterization in terms of shape, composition, and size. The impact of target geometry on these multistatic scattering fields is explored, and a discrimination approach developed in which the source and receiver circle the target with the same radial speed. The frequency components of the multistatic scattering data at different bistatic angles are used to form models for target characteristics. Data are then classified using these models. Classification accuracies were greater than 98% for shape and composition. Regression for target volume showed potential, with 90% chance of errors less than 15%. The significance of this approach is to make classification using low-cost vehicles plausible from scattering amplitudes and the relative angles between the target, source, and receiver vehicles.

Rigid and elastic acoustic scattering signal separation for underwater target

Underwater target elastic acoustic scattering and other acoustic scattering components are aliasing together in the time and frequency domains, and the existing signal processing methods cannot recognize the elastic scattering features under the aliasing condition because of the resolution limitation. To address this problem, this study, which is based on the target echo highlight model, analyzes the characteristics of target acoustic scattering components when the transmitted signal is a linear frequency modulation pulse. The target acoustic scattering structure in the fractional Fourier transform (FRFT) domain is deduced theoretically. Then, filtering is used in the FRFT domain to separate the target elastic acoustic scattering components. In addition, noise suppression performance and filter resolution are discussed. The target rigid and elastic acoustic scattering components are separated. Experimental results show that filtering in the FRFT domain can separate the elastic scattering components from the target echoes. Moreover, separated elastic acoustic scattering components have consistent theoretical features, which lay the foundation for studying the elastic scattering characteristics further.

Buried targets in layered media: A combined finite element/physical acoustics model and comparison to data on a half buried 2:1 cylinder

Previously, a combined finite element/physical acoustics model for proud targets [K. L. Williams, S. G. Kargl, E. I. Thorsos, D. S. Burnett, J. L. Lopes, M. Zampolli, and P. L. Marston, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 127, 3356-3371 (2010)] was compared to both higher fidelity finite element models and to experimental data for a proud 2:1 aluminum cylinder. Here that expression is generalized to address the case of a target buried in a layered media. The result is compared to data acquired for the same 2:1 cylinder but half buried in a mud layer that covers the sand sediment (considered here as infinite in extent below the mud layer). The generalized expression reduces to both the previous proud result and to the result for a target buried in an infinite medium under the appropriate limiting conditions. The model/data comparisons shown include both the previous proud model and data results along with the ones for the half buried cylinder. The comparison quantifies the reduction in target strength as a function of frequency in the half buried case relative to the proud case.

A Fourier-based total-field/scattered-field technique for three-dimensional broadband simulations of elastic targets near a water-sand interface

The numerical simulation of acoustic scattering from elastic objects near a water-sand interface is critical to underwater target identification. Frequency-domain methods are computationally expensive, especially for large-scale broadband problems. A numerical technique is proposed to enable the efficient use of finite-difference time-domain method for broadband simulations. By incorporating a total-field/scattered-field boundary, the simulation domain is restricted inside a tightly bounded region. The incident field is further synthesized by the Fourier transform for both subcritical and supercritical incidences. Finally, the scattered far field is computed using a half-space Green's function. Numerical examples are further provided to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed technique.

Sonar target enhancement by shrinkage of incoherent wavelet coefficients

Background reverberation can obscure useful features of the target echo response in broadband low-frequency sonar images, adversely affecting detection and classification performance. This paper describes a resolution and phase-preserving means of separating the target response from the background reverberation noise using a coherence-based wavelet shrinkage method proposed recently for de-noising magnetic resonance images. The algorithm weights the image wavelet coefficients in proportion to their coherence between different looks under the assumption that the target response is more coherent than the background. The algorithm is demonstrated successfully on experimental synthetic aperture sonar data from a broadband low-frequency sonar developed for buried object detection.

A rail system for circular synthetic aperture sonar imaging and acoustic target strength measurements: design/operation/preliminary results

A 22 m diameter circular rail, outfitted with a mobile sonar tower trolley, was designed, fabricated, instrumented with underwater acoustic transducers, and assembled on a 1.5 m thick sand layer at the bottom of a large freshwater pool to carry out sonar design and target scattering response studies. The mobile sonar tower translates along the rail via a drive motor controlled by customized LabVIEW software. The rail system is modular and assembly consists of separately deploying eight circular arc sections, measuring a nominal center radius of 11 m and 8.64 m arc length each, and having divers connect them together in the underwater environment. The system enables full scale measurements on targets of interest with 0.1° angular resolution over a complete 360° aperture, without disrupting target setup, and affording a level of control over target environment conditions and noise sources unachievable in standard field measurements. In recent use, the mobile cart carrying an instrumented sonar tower was translated along the rail in 720 equal position increments and acoustic backscatter data were acquired at each position. In addition, this system can accommodate both broadband monostatic and bistatic scattering measurements on targets of interest, allowing capture of target signature phenomena under diverse configurations to address current scientific and technical issues encountered in mine countermeasure and unexploded ordnance applications. In the work discussed here, the circular rail apparatus is used for acoustic backscatter testing, but this system also has the capacity to facilitate the acquisition of magnetic and optical sensor data from targets of interest. A brief description of the system design and operation will be presented along with preliminary processed results for data acquired from acoustic measurements conducted at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City Division Test Pond Facility. [Work Supported by the U.S. Office of Naval Research and The Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program.].

Acoustic identification of buried underwater unexploded ordnance using a numerically trained classifier (L)

Using a finite element-based structural acoustics code, simulations were carried out for the acoustic scattering from an unexploded ordnance rocket buried in the sediment under 3 m of water. The simulation treated 90 rocket burial angles in steps of 2°. The simulations were used to train a generative relevance vector machine (RVM) algorithm for identifying rockets buried at unknown angles in an actual water/sediment environment. The trained RVM algorithm was successfully tested on scattering measurements made in a sediment pool facility for six buried targets including the rocket at 90°, 120°, and 150°, a boulder, a cinderblock, and a cinderblock rolled 45° about its long axis.

Bistatic, above-critical angle scattering measurements of fully buried unexploded ordnance (UXO) and clutter

Laboratory grade bistatic scattering measurements are conducted in order to examine the acoustic response of realistic fully buried unexploded ordnance (UXO) from above-critical angle insonification, between 2 and 40 kHz. A 127 mm diameter rocket UXO, a 155 mm diameter artillery shell, a natural rock of approximately the same size, and a cinder block are fully buried in water-saturated medium grained sand (mean grain diameter, 240 μm) at depths of 10 cm below the water-sediment interface. A two-dimensional array of bistatic scattering measurements is generated synthetically by scanning a single hydrophone in steps of 3 cm over a 1 m × 1 m patch directly above the targets at a height of 20 cm above the water-sediment interface. Three-dimensional volumetric acoustic images generated from the return waveforms reveal scattering components attributed to geometric and elastic scattering, as well as multiple-scattering interactions of returns between the sediment-water interface and the buried objects. The far-field target strength of the objects is estimated through extrapolation of the angular spectrum. Agreement is found between experimental data and simulated data generated from a finite-element-based, three-dimensional time-harmonic model (2-25 kHz). Separation of the measured UXO from the clutter objects is demonstrated through exploitation of structural-acoustics-based features.

Discriminating resonant targets from clutter using Lanczos iterated single-channel time reversal

Power iterated single-channel time-reversal is extended to employ Lanczos iterations. The properties of these algorithms are studied in the presence of varying levels of noise and broadband clutter. It is shown the Lanczos iterated method possesses superior convergence properties in comparison to the standard power iterated technique. Results demonstrate that such algorithms provide an efficient means through which to isolate and extract the properties of resonant scatterers in the presence of noise and coherent interference.

Isolating scattering resonances of an air-filled spherical shell using iterative, single-channel time reversal

Iterative, single-channel time reversal is employed to isolate backscattering resonances of an air-filled spherical shell in a frequency range of 0.5-20 kHz. Numerical simulations of free-field target scattering suggest improved isolation of the dominant target response frequency in the presence of varying levels of stochastic noise, compared to processing returns from a single transmission and also coherent averaging. To test the efficacy of the technique in a realistic littoral environment, monostatic scattering experiments are conducted in the Gulf of Mexico near Panama City, Florida. The time reversal technique is applied to returns from a hollow spherical shell target sitting proud on a sandy bottom in 14 m deep water. Distinct resonances in the scattering response of the target are isolated, depending upon the bandwidth of the sonar system utilized.

Structural-acoustic modeling for three-dimensional freefield and littoral environments with verification and validation

This paper describes a high-order, finite-element-based, three-dimensional time-harmonic model for large-scale exterior structural-acoustics problems. It is applicable to both freefield and littoral environments. For the freefield case, the infinite exterior is treated as a homogeneous linear acoustic medium. For littoral applications, the water or air and the sediment domains are each treated as linear homogeneous, semi-infinite half-spaces with piecewise-constant properties. Both domains admit complex-valued wave speeds to enable the inclusion of damping. The finite element formulation uses a variational statement which naturally incorporates the transmission-condition at the water or air-sediment interface. The truncation of the infinite exterior is realized using an infinite-element for the freefield case, and the perfectly-matched-layer approximation for littoral applications. Computation of the farfield quantities is done based on an integral representation which, for the littoral cases, uses efficient approximations for the appropriate Green's function. Numerical computations are presented for a series of progressively more complex problems, and are used to verify the model against analytic and other numerical solutions and validate it based on the experimental data for scattering from elastic scatterers as measured in freefield and sediment pool laboratory facilities.

Exploiting forward scattering for detecting submerged proud/half-buried unexploded ordnance

Laboratory underwater bistatic scattering measurements are reported for free, proud, and half-buried unexploded ordnances for 0 degrees and 90 degrees source angles. Forward echoes are larger than backscattered returns, and half burial significantly decreases the latter but not the former. Results agree with analytic predictions borrowed from radar. The forward echo and source signal are separated by measurements made with and without the target, a method not possible in a target search. For this, a method is described that uses knowledge of the source location and the hyperbolic character in time-cross range of the signals received at points along a line.

Bistatic scattering from submerged unexploded ordnance lying on a sediment

The broadband bistatic target strengths (TSs) of two submerged unexploded ordnance (UXO) targets have been measured in the NRL sediment pool facility. The targets-a 5 in. rocket and a 155 mm projectile-were among the targets whose monostatic TSs were measured and reported previously by the authors. Bistatic TS measurements were made for 0 degrees (target front) and 90 degrees (target side) incident source directions, and include both backscattered and forward scattered echo angles over a complete 360 degrees with the targets placed proud of the sediment surface. For the two source angles used, each target exhibits two strong highlights: a backscattered specular-like echo and a forward scattered response. The TS levels of the former are shown to agree reasonably well with predictions, based on scattering from rigid disks and cylinders, while the levels of the latter with predictions from radar cross section models, based on simple geometric optics appropriately modified. The bistatic TS levels observed for the proud case provide comparable or higher levels of broadband TS relative to free-field monostatic measurements. It is concluded that access to bistatic echo information in operations aimed at detecting submerged UXO targets could provide an important capability.