Impact analysis of towed linear array shape distortion to conventional focused beamforming

Abstract

Influenced by wave or ship maneuvering, distortion occurs when the towed array is dragged underwater; which will introduce loss of spatial processing gain. Aiming at analyzing the incorrect positioning problem of passive target, array signal reception model is built when distortion occurs, and simulation experiment is conducted to analyze the influence of array shape distortion to the conventional focused beamforming, besides, effect degree of distortion is invested by changing processing frequency band and distance between target and reference array element. In contrast to the situation that array shape is undistorted, simulation results indicate that position error will be caused when linear array assumption is introduced to conventional focused beamforming. This error increases with frequency over same band within the designed frequency range of array and distance between target and reference array element. Experiment results provide a reference for tuning parameter to reduce influence of array shape distortion to spatial processing gain.