A Bayesian approach to a passive range estimation method of underwater sound source in shallow water waveguide

In this paper, a matched mode processing method is used to estimate the range of underwater sound source in shallow water, in which the replica field is calculated with the P and Q normal mode model. In this normal mode model, the replica field is described with the bottom phase shift coefficient, the sea depth and the average sound speed profile. The influence caused by the uncertainty of environment parameters, on the accuracy of range estimation is discussed with Bayesian approximation. Bayesian approximation is a good way to estimate the unknown parameters based on probability of data. The Gaussian distribution model and Markov Chain Monte Carlo method are used in this paper for calculating the posterior probability density. The effect of the uncertainty or error of environment parameters to the ranging result is obtained. The practicality of the ranging method is raised significantly. The procedure and the discussed results are given.