System for estimating far-field acoustic tonals

Abstract

A system and method for estimating a ship's far-field acoustic characteristics includes at least one reference hydrophone and at least one movable hydrophone, both of which are disposed in the water closely adjacent the ship. The movable hydrophone senses acoustic tonals at a plurality of points on the surface of an imaginary prolate spheroid surrounding the ship, the major and minor axes of which are roughly equal to one-half the length of the ship and the beam of the ship, respectively. The phase difference in the signals from the movable hydrophone and reference hydrophone are compared to generate a near-field data set. A computer is used to estimate a far-field data set representative of the ship's acoustic characteristics based on the near-field data set. Thus actual far-field measurements are not required.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.