Clutter Quantification Based on Reverberation Statistics in Littoral Environment

When detecting targets using active sonar in littoral environment, the echoes are always blended with high-level discrete clutters which lead to false alarms. Sonar and environment parameters will both make an impact on the quantity of clutters. Traditionally, it is difficult to quantify clutters what is essential for sonar design, actually. In this study, the reverberation statistical models are proposed to quantify clutters, such as K distribution and mixture distribution. We are trying to use particular parameters of these distributions to quantify clutters. The theory is declared herein and experimentally proved by lake trial. The method is useful for engineers to estimate the severity of clutters and adjust sonar parameters.