Model-based identification: an adaptive approach to ocean-acoustic processing

A model-based approach is developed to solve an adaptive ocean-acoustic signal-processing problem. Model-based signal processing is a well-defined methodology enabling the inclusion of propagation models, measurement models, and noise models into sophisticated processing algorithms. Here, we investigate the design of a so-called model-based identifier (MBID) for a general nonlinear state-space structure and apply it to a shallow water ocean-acoustic problem characterized by the normal-mode model. In this problem, we assume that the structure of the model is known and we show how this parameter-adaptive processor can be configured to jointly estimate both the modal functions and the horizontal wave numbers directly from the measured pressure-field and sound speed. We first design the model-based identifier using a model developed from a shallow-water ocean experiment and then apply it to a corresponding set of experimental data demonstrating the feasibility of this approach. It is also shown that one of the benefits of this adaptive approach is a solution to the so-called "mismatch" problem in matched-field processing (MFP).