Geoacoustic matched-field inversion using a vector sensor array

Vector sensors measure the acoustic pressure and the particle velocity components. This type of sensor has the ability to provide information in both vertical and azimuthal direction allowing increased directivity. These characteristics have been explored by many authors and most of the studies on vector sensors found in literature are related to direction of arrival (DOA) estimation. However, assembled into an array, a Vector Sensor Array (VSA) improves spatial filtering capabilities and can be used with advantage in other applications such as geoacoustic inversion. In this paper it will be shown that a reliable estimation of ocean bottom parameters, such as sediment compressional speed, density and compressional attenuation, can be obtained using high-frequency signals and a small aperture vertical VSA. The introduction of particle velocity on matched-field processing (MFP) techniques is going to be presented. It will be seen how MFP, usually done with acoustic pressure, can be adapted in order to incorporate the three components of the particle velocity. Comparisons between several processors based either in individual particle velocity components or using all the VSA outputs, are made for simulated and experimental data. The quaternion model, which is founded on hypercomplex algebra, thus more appropriate to represent the 4 dimensional VSA data, is also presented in the MFP context. A novel ray tracing model is used to generate field replicas that include both the acoustic pressure and the particle velocity outputs. The data considered herein was acquired by a four element vertical VSA in the 8-14 kHz band, during the Makai Experiment 2005 sea trial, off Kauai I., Hawaii (USA). The results shows that, when the particle velocity is included it can significantly increase the resolution of bottom properties estimation and in some cases a similar result is obtained using only the vertical component of the particle velocity