Noise adaptive sonar signal processor

Abstract

A system and method of performing sonar range estimations in a noisy sonar environment. The system includes a sensor, a transmitter, a receiver, a plurality of band-pass filters, a cross correlator, and a data analyzer. The transmitter transmits a pulse through a transmission medium. The pulse travels through the transmission medium until it strikes an object, which returns an echo to the sensor. The sensor provides the echo to the receiver, which provides an indication of the echo to the band-pass filters. The respective band-pass filters provide filtered versions of the echo and pulse to the cross correlator, which performs multiple cross correlation operations on the filtered echo and pulse. The cross correlator provides output data to the data analyzer, which uses the data to estimate the SNR in the environment and to determine a pulse center frequency corresponding to the estimated SNR. By controlling the center frequency of pulses emitted by the transmitter based on information provided by the data analyzer, the system obtains sonar range estimations with increased accuracy.