Linear systems theory and its relationship to ocean acoustics

The article of record as published may be found at https://doi: 10.1121/1.2028979The purpose of this talk is to demonstrate the consistency and relationships between linear systems theory and the physics of propagation of small‐amplitude acoustic signals in fluid media. Using the principles of linear, time‐variant, space‐variant filter theory and time‐domain and spatial‐domain Fourier transforms, derivations of the solutions of the linear, three‐dimensional, inhomogeneous wave equation for (1) an unbounded isospeed fluid medium, (2) and unbounded fluid medium with speed of sound an arbitrary function of depth, and (3) a full‐wave, pulse‐propagation model for three‐dimensional wave propagation in a Pekeris waveguide are presented. Characterizing a fluid medium as a linear filter is valid since this involves trying to solve the linear wave equation. Computer simulation results are presented.Work supported by ONR, Code1 1250 and the Naval Postgraduate Schoo