A MIMO inversion technique applied to reflected signals from a simulated seafloor

This paper presents a global system identification method for the inverse problem to the parametric modeling of the acoustic wave propagation through sediments, tested in the laboratory. A general viscoelastic model which considers beam-spread due to the finite aperture of the emitter, losses due to absorption and dispersion along the propagation path of the wave in the sediment, and roughness of the sediment surface is used to describe the acoustic wave propagation. The estimation of the model parameters is elaborated using a maximum likelihood estimator in a MIMO (multiple input-multiple output) configuration. The estimated absorption and dispersion in the sediment are depicted.