An underwater target classification scheme based on the acoustic backscatter form function

By using the acoustic scattering form function, a method for classifying underwater spherical shell targets in an open ocean environment is proposed. The resulting backscatter signal from an incident wideband signal is used to illustrate some of the salient scattering features such as mid-frequency enhancement (MFE). A shell classification technique is then developed. An affine transformation of a template form function is used in the classification scheme. It is shown that the proposed scheme is robust against uncertainties in the material properties and noise.