On the relationship between signal bandwidth and frequency correlation for ocean surface forward scattered signals

The relationship between the bandwidth of a signal and the correlation of that signal with its ocean surface reflected arrival, a quantity we term frequency correlation, has been investigated experimentally and compared with two theories. Decorrelation of wideband surface scattered signals is a direct consequence of time spread. The acoustic measurement utilized a very short pure tone signal, from which time spread has been estimated, and four broadband signals with different bandwidths, for which correlation with the transmitted signal has been measured. An environment-driven model developed by Dahl was used to predict time spread, which agreed favorably with our time spread measurements. The model was also employed in two theories that predict frequency correlation. The first, a theory published by Reeves in 1974, is based upon the ratio of signal temporal resolution to total time spread. This theory compared well with our measurements for 1 kHz bandwidth signals, but is not applicable for signal bandwidths greater than about 2 kHz. The second, a theory developed by Ziomek, models ocean acoustic propagation as transmission through a linear system. This theory agreed well with our frequency correlation measurements for signal bandwidths of 1-22 kHz.