IMPLEMENTATION OF ADAPTIVE PROCESSING IN INTEGRATED
ACTIVE-PASSIVE SONARS DEPLOYING CYLINDRICAL ARRAYS
* *
S. Stergiopoulos ,A. C. Dhanantwari t and J. J. Grodski
*
Defence Civil Institute Environmental Medicine, P.O. Box 2000, 1133 Sheppard Ave. West, Toronto,
Ontario, M3M-3B9, CANADA, stergios@dciem.dnd.ca
' Dept. Electrical Computer Eng., University Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A-5B9, CANADA
Abstract: The investigation reported in this paper
includes the definition of an ROV deploying a cylindrical
array sonar for underwater robotics operations, such as mine-
hunting. The various aspects of robotics arrangements for the
ROV will be discussed in association with the sonar
performance characteristics provided by the integrated
functionality of the cylindrical array sonar including an
adaptive beamformer. The proposed adaptive processing
concept has been implemented in an integrated active-passive
real-time sonar deploying a cylindrical array. Real data results
from the adaptive and conventional beamforming outputs of
the cylindrical array sonar system demonstrate the superior
performance of the adaptive beamformer in suppressing the
reverberation and cluttering effects in active sonar
applications. Moreover, for passive sonar applications, the
adaptive processing provides substantially improved angular
resolution performance as compared with that of the
conventional beamformer. Both these two performance
improvements for a cylindrical array sonar are of particular
importance for mine hunting operations.
I. MULTI-DIMENSIONAL ARRAY BEAMFORMERS
In modern sonar systems, it is important that all
possible active and passive modes of operation be exploited.
Similarly, the implementation of computationally intensive
adaptive beamformers in sonar systems is of equal practical
importance. This is because the non-conventional processing
schemes can provide improved array gain performance for
signals embedded in partially correlated noise fields.
Adaptive beamformers, however, have a major practical
disadvantage of requiring long convergence periods. Previous
investigations by the authors of this paper have introduced
adaptive beamforming schemes with near-instantaneous
convergence for match filter processing. The formulation of
the problem, however, had been directed for line towed array
applications [ 11.
The concept for implementing successfully adaptive
schemes in 3-dimensional (3-D) arrays of sensors, such as,
cylindrical arrays, is similar to that of line arrays [1,2].In
particular, the basic step is to minimize the number of degrees
of freedom associated with the adaptation process. This step
will minimize the adaptive scheme's convergence period and
achieve near-instantaneous convergence.
0-7803-4273-9/98/$10.00@ 1998 IEEE
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Thus, the research effort has been centered on the
definition of a generic beamforming structure that
decomposes the beamforming process of 3-D sensor arrays
into sub-sets of coherent processes [2].The approach is to
decomDose the comDutationallv intensive multi-dimensional
beamformer into two simDle modules, which are line and
circular arrav beamformers. Thus, the multi-dimensional
beamforming process can now be divided into coherent sub-
processes which lead to efficient implementation in real-time
sonar systems. Furthermore, the application of spatial shading
to reduce the side-lobe structures can now be easily
incorporated. Moreover, the new approach makes the
implementation of adaptive schemes in multidimensional
sensor arrays practically achievable.
In what follows, a brief overview of the conventional
and adaptive beamformers is provided for line, circular and
cylindrical arrays of sensors.
A. Line-Array Beamformer
Consider an N-hydrophone line array receiver with
uniform sensor spacing d. x, (t,) ( n = 1, ...,N ,i = 1, . . . , I ) are
the sensor time series of plane wave arrivals received by the
N-hydrophones. For a signal arriving from an angle 8 relative
to the array endfire, the hydrophones time series are
expressed by x, (t,) = x o {tl - ( n - I)z(8)>,where z(8) is the
time delay between two adjacent sensors and is given by
z(8) = d cos 8 / c and c is the speed of the propagation of the
sound in the underwater medium. The plane wave response of
the N-hydrophones line array can be expressed by
B<f,O, 1 = c
N-l
n=ll
X, tf >on
(f941 t 1)
where X,(f) is the Fourier transform of x , ( t , ) ,
D n ( f , 8 , )= exp[jhf(n- l)dcos8,] is the n' term of the
steering vector, h = 2 n / c and 8, is the beam steering
direction angle. The beam power pattern P(f,8,)is given
by P ( f , 8 , ) = B(f,8,)B*(f,OS).
The angular response of a
line-array is ambiguous with respect to the angle e,,
responding equally to targets at angle 8, and -8, where 8,
varies over [0,n].
 where X ( r , m ) ( f ) is the fourier transform of the received
signal by the m* sensor on the rth ring.
~ ~ r . , ~ ( f J %=, 9exp(jhf(@
s) ~ 0 ~+9Rsin9,
, cos(@,- em>)
where R is the radius of the involved ring and dZ is the
distance between each ring along z-axis and 8, = 2nml M ,
m = 0,1,..., M - 1. Eq. 3 can be written as

r=O

where: D, (f,e,, 9v) = exp(jhfrdz cos 9J1 and

K D, (f ,e,, 9, ) = exp( j h . sin 9, cos(8, - 8,)) . It is clear that
Y D,(f.8,,$,) is the kernel of a line-array beamformer and
I Fieure 1 Circular Arrav of Sensors I D,(f,8,,4,) is the kernel of a circular array beamformer.
Eq. 4 suggests the decomposition of the cylindrical array
B. Circular Array Beamformer beamformer into two steps. The first step is to perform
Consider N-hydrophones distributed uniformly on a circular array beamforming for each of the N rings with M
ring of radius R receiving plane-wave arrivals at an azimuth sensors on each ring. The second step is to perform line array
angle 8 and an elevation angle 9 , as shown in Fig. 1. The beamforming along z-axis on the N beam outputs of the first
step. This new efficient implementation based on the
plane-wave response of this circular array to the signal can be decomposition of the cylindrical beamformer into simple line-
written as follows
array and circular array beamformers is shown in Fig. 2. Non-

B(f 9 e\*4,) = cx, >w,

N-I

n=O
(f (Q,)D,(f 9 e,, 9,) (2)
uniform shading window can be applied for each circular
beamformers to improve the angular response w.r.t the
azimuth angle, 8 . A uniform shading window can then be
where X,(f) is the fourier transform of x,(t,), applied to the line array beamformer to improve the angular
response w.r.t the elevation angle, 4. Moreover, this
D,( f = exp( jhfRsin@,cos(8, - 8,)),e, = 2m I N ,
decomposition process of the 3-D cylindrical beamformer
n =0,1,...N - 1 . W , ( e , ) is the spatial window used to into coherent sets of line and circular beamformers allows for
reduce the side-lobe structure. This spatial window, in
general, is not uniform and depends on I
the sensor location 8, and the beam
steering direction e,,. The angular
response of circular array covers the
range [0,2z] and therefore there is no ries for each Azimuth & Elevation.
ambiguity with respect to the azimuth
angle 8 .
- \&- -\ 1 The profess is repeated for the rest of the
sensors of the Cylindrical arrr
1

C. Cylindrical Array Beamformer

-7 .."... ...- -
Consider the cylindrical array I..-L.

sub-circular arrays and I

shown in Fig. 2 with K sensors and
K = NM where N is the number of I N Sub-circular Arrays 11 for 8 and Q-.
form new beam-time series For each set of three beam times series
havine 8. ,Q azimuth-elevation beam
11 stee2ng;appiy adaptive beamforming 1
-I

circular rings and M is the number of I

Figure 2. Sub-Aperture concept for 3-D Cylindrical Adaptive Beamformer.
sensors on each ring. For a steered an efficient implementation of 3-D cylindrical beamformer in
direction defined by the azimuth and elevation angles, sonar computing architectures. This is because all the circular
(e,,97) , the angular response of this cylindrical array can be and line array beamformers can be executed in parallel and
expressed as there is no need to process coherently all the sensors of the
cylindrical array. Furthermore, this new approach makes the
B(f7 e\ 9, ) =
7 c
N - l M-l

r=O m=O
X ( r . m(f>D(,.,,
) Qv 9, ) (3)
( f 9 7
incorporation of the adaptive schemes for cylindrical arrays
feasible as shown in Section 111.

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11. ADAPTIVE BEAMFORMING SCHEMES

The goal of an adaptive beamformer is to optimize
the beamforming response so that the output contains minimal
contributions due to noise and signal arriving from directions
other than the desired signal direction. The adaptive
beamforming schemes, considered here [ 11, are the following:
A. Generalized Sidelobe Canceller
The Generalized Sidelobe Canceller (GSC) [4] is an
alternative approach to the Minimum Variance Response
(MVDR) method. It reduces the adaptive problem to an
unconstrained minimization process. The GSC formulation
produces a much less computationally intensive
implementation. The GSC combined with the Normalized
Least Mean square (NLMS) adaptive algorithm has been
shown to yield near instantaneous convergence [3,4].
B. Steered Minimum Variance Broadband
Krolik & Swingler [5] have shown that the adaptive weights. Therefore, the adaptive algorithms’
convergence time for broad-band
source location can be reduced by
Thus the main processing flow configuration is in the
frequency domain. Furthermore, the frequency domain
beamforming outputs are made equivalent to the FFT of the
broadband beamformers output with proper selection of
beamforming weights and careful data partitioning. This
equivalence corresponds to implementing FIR beamforming
filters via circular convolution. It allows also spatial-temporal
processing of narrowband and broadband types of signals as
well. As a result, the output of each one of the conventional
and adaptive schemes provides continuous time series. this
modular structure in the signal processing flow is very
essential processing arrangement in order to allow for the
integration of active and passive sonar applications such as
the ones considered in this study [ 1,2].
Although, the computational complexity of adaptive
algorithms varies, it is always dependent on the number of
computational cost, for arrays having a large number of

-
using space-time statistic called the
Steered Covariance Matrix
(STCM). The Steered Minimum
Variance (STMV) algorithm differs
from the basic MVDR algorithm in
that the STMV algorithm uses a
STCM that is composed from a
band of frequencies and the MVDR
algorithm uses a Cross Spectral Select three beam time series (T-S)
Density Matrix (CSDM) that is from the three Sub-circulararrays
and apply adaptive beamorming on
derived from a single frequency bin.
The number of statistical degrees of
freedom available to estimate the Generatethree sub-circular-arrays
STCM is approximately the time- with M-2 senwrs each.
Eleamform Each Sub-CircularArray
bandwidth product (TXB), as
Figure 3 ConceDt of sub-aoerturestructure for adaDtive circular arrav beamformer
opposed to the observation time, T
in -CSDM method where T = M I F,T,, M is the number of sensors and for a large number of adaptive weights, can be
prohibitive. This problem has been addressed by Owsley [6].
time samples, and F,* is the sampling frequency. This His partially adaptive beamformer concept for line arrays is
provides an improvement of approximately B, the size of the based on the sub-aperture configuration with very large
broadband source bandwidth, in convergence time. Therefore, percentage overlap between contiguous sub-apertures. More,
the STMV method achieves significantly shorter convergence specifically, a line array is divided into a number of sub-
times than adaptive algorithm based on CSDM without arrays that overlap [ 1,6]. These sub-arrays are beamformed
sacrificing spatial resolution. using the conventional approach and this first stage of
beamforming generates a number of sets of beams equal to
the number of sub-arrays. The second stage of beamforming
111. IMPLEMENTATION CONSIDERATIONS
includes the implementation of an adaptive scheme on these
set of beams, which are steered in the same direction in space
For a steering direction with angles @,s, the but each one of them belongs to a different sub-array.
conventional and adaptive beamformers, discussed in [ 11 and Extension of the concept of the sub-aperture configuration of
in Sections I and 11, are implemented in frequency domain as line array for the cases of multi-dimensional arrays is not
discussed in [l]. Then, continuous beam time series are trivial task. Extension of the sub-aperture scheme for the
formed by using the IFFT, circular-array and cylindrical cases will be shown here.

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 A. Sub-aperture scheme for circular array:
Consider a circular array with N sensors shown in Fig. 3.
The first circular sub-aperture consists of the first
N - G sensors with n = 1,2,..., N - G where n is the sensor
index and G is the number of sub-apertures. The second
circular sub-aperture array consists of N - G sensors with
n = 2,3, ..., N - G + 1 . Going on till the last sub-aperture
consists of N - G sensors with n = G, G + 1,..., N . In the
first stage, each sub-aperture is circular beamformed as
discussed in Section I and this first stage of beamforming
generates G number of sets of beams. The second stage
includes the implementation of adaptive scheme on these set
of beams, which are steered in the same direction in space but
each one of them belongs to a different sub-array. These steps
for circular sub-apertures are illustrated in Fig.3 for C = 3 .
B. Sub-Aperture Scheme for Cylindrical Array:
Consider the cylindrical array cell shown in Fig. 2 with
numbers of sensors K sensors and K = NM where N is the
number of circular rings and M is the number of sensors on
each ring. The first sub-aperture consists of the first
set of beams, which are steered in the same direction in space
but each one of them belongs to a different sub-aperture
cylindrical array. These two steps required for adaptive
schemes of cylindrical array are shown in Fig. 2, for G=3.
-
C. ROV Platform General Considerations
This kind of sonar performance improvement (as
discussed in the previous sections) needs to be exploited by
defining a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) capable of
carrying the sonar package for use in e.g. underwater mine
hunting operations. First, the ROV platform has to match the
dimensional requirements of the sonar package. For
underwater mine-hunting operations, the frequency range of
the active sonar will be in the range of 30 - 40 KHz. The
cylindrical array, as shown in Figure 2, will consist of 16
rings and each ring will have 64 sensors (or staves). In total,
the cylindrical array will have 1024 sensors with spacing
1.875 cm. Thus, the cylindrical array will have radius, R =
0.19m and height, H = 0.3m. The supporting ROV will need
to be designed in such a way that it optimizes the signal
reception at the array.

Conventiona I It is required that the ROV has

110.0 t
I

I 1.90
I I

i
I

I sufficiently low electro-magnetic and acoustical

signature which would not trigger mines at its
operating stand-off distance by virtue of its usual
0.0
0.0 50.0
GSC-SA
100.0 actions, such as e.g. use of its thrusters. The
ROV's operating depth would be relatively

'O'O
0.0
0.0
i I 1"81

50.0 100.0
shallow, limited to depths at which underwater
mines are usually deployed. It is expected that the
ROV would have means for identifying its location

10.0 1
4
STCM-SA
3 either in absolute terms or more-likely in terms of
its relative position with respect to the ship to
support mine-location mapping and related tasks.
00
0 0 50 0 100.0
The other critical considerations are
Ranqe
associated with the significant signal processing
Figure 4. Matched Filter output for adaptive and conventional beam time series
of cylindrical array beamformer. needs. The first systems will likely involve support
of a mother ship where the processing capabilities
( N - G) rings ( n = 1,2,..., N - G,n is the ring index). with
would be located and where the output of the processing
( M - G ) sensors on each ring (m=1,2, ..., M-G,m is the could be read and used by the mine-hunting top-side
sensor index on each ring) and C is the number of sub- operators. This arrangement implies that sensing data from
apertures. The second sub-aperture consists of the first the sonar would have to be transmitted from the ROV to the
( N - G)rings ( n = 2,3, ..., N - G + 1 ) with ( M - G) sensors mother ship via an umbilical cable. Existence of the cable
on each ring ( m = 2,3,..., M - G + 1). Going on till the last suggests that it could be also used to deliver power from the
sub-aperture which consists of ( N - G) rings mother ship to the ROV. However, the designer may need to
( n = G , G + l ,...,N ) with ( M - G ) sensors on each ring pay special attention to the design of the cable (and the power
( m = G,G + 1,...,M ) . In the first stage of adaptive sub-
transmission parameters) to minimize its electro-magnetic
signature and thereby facilitate safe operations. Mobility of
aperture scheme for cylindrical array, the G sub-apertures are the system would be obtained through the use of thrusters and
conventionally beamformed using the new approach
their control could be carried out from the top-side, using the
discussed in Section I and this first stage of beamforming
umbilical to transmit the control signals to the ROV. The
generates G number of sets of beams. The second stage sonar would be also controlled from the top-side. In sum, this
includes the implementation of an adaptive scheme on these

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Azimuth Beams
Figure 5. Passive conventional with spatial window (uppei
curve) and adaptive (lower curve) beamforming (azimuth:
results for cylindrical array.
would be an unmanned operation as far as use oIf divers is
concerned.
An alternativc possibility exists whereby
a diver-manned operation would be carried out. In
this scenario. a diver would be handling ROV
mobility and sonar use controls right at the ROV.
for both the adaptive and conventional beamformers was
144. The hyperbolic FM pulses were centered at 330Hz,
with lOOHz bandwidth, -20dB SNR and with 120 seconds
repetition rate. Figure 4 shows the matched filter output for
adaptive active applications. Inputs to the replica correlator
are beam time series of conventional and adaptive
beamformers. The replica correlator output provides a
measure of the temporal coherence properties (or optimum
processing) achieved by the conventional beamformer, the
sub-aperture GSC and the STMV algorithms for the case of
cylindrical array. The results suggest that the sub-aperture
STMV adaptive beamformer has achieved near
instantaneous convergence since its replica correlation
output is equivalent to that of the conventional
beamformer, which is the optimum case [ I ] . Figure 5
shows the output results of the beamformers in the passive
configuration with the frequency of the narrowband signal
taken to be 330 Hz.
The proposed system configuration and the
adaptive signal processing structure of this study, was
tested also with real data sets of an operational sonar
system. - 6 provides the matched filter output results
Figure
for a -
single .pulse from real data
-~
sets of a real time sonar
Active Sonar: Cylindrical Array

In order to support this mode of

operations. an umbilical would be necessary to
transmit the raw signals t o the top-side and
processed information back to the diver operator
of the ROV at this stage. Use of thc umbilical to
transmit power or use of a ROV-based power
source would be the available alternatives.
Evolution of the processing means, however, may
allow to carry out the processing at the ROV in the
future, thereby eliminating the main current reason
for the umbilical cable.

IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

The convcntional and adaptive

heamformers were tested with real and synthetic
hypcrholic FM pulsch, and synthclic narrowband
vpnalq. The cylindrical array included I60 sensors
( I6 rings with IO sensors on each ring)he distance
hctwecn rings along the z-axis was takcn to he
equal to the angular spacing between sensors of
the rings (d, = 2nR/M = 2.091~1). Continuous beam
time series were provided at the input of the
adaptive beamformers with processing flow as
defined in [ 11. The total number of steering beams

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 system deploying a cylindrical array. Inputs to the replica
correlator are beam time series of conventional and adaptive
beamformers. The upper part of Figure 6 shows the matched
filter output of the conventional beamformer and the lower
part shows the output of the sub-aperture STMV adaptive
algorithm. The horizontal axis refers to the angular space
covering the bearing range of (0, 360 degrees). The vertical
axis refers to time delay or range estimates of the matched
filter and the color refers to the correlation output. In a sense,
each vertical color-coded line of Figure 6 represents a
correlation output of Figure 5 for a giver bearing angle. In
summary, the basic difference between the conventional and
adaptive matched filter output results is that the improved
directionality (or array gain) of the adaptive beam time series
localizes the detected HFM pulses and the associated echo
returns in a smaller number of beams than the conventional
beamformer.
This kind of array gain improvement, provided by
the adaptive beamformer, suppresses the reverberation effects
during active sonar operations. It is anticipated that the
observed in Figure 6 enhanced performance of the proposed
advanced beamformer, would also enhance the performance
of mine-hunting sonars by means of precise detection and
localization of echoes that are embedded in reverberation
noise fields.
V. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the results of this study indicate that
the sub-aperture adaptive concept addresses practical
concerns of near-instantaneous convergence, shown in Figure
4 and 6, for active mine-hunting sonar operations. The
performance improvements of the adaptive beamformer
compared to that of the conventional beamformer are
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significant improvements in directional estimates of azimuth
and elevation angles and suppression of reverberation effects.
This kind of improvement of directional estimates is an
essential property for modern mine-hunting operations. The
proposed approach for the implementation of the adaptive
beamforming is based on decomposing the 2-D and 3-D
beamforming process in subsets of coherent processes that
allow the minimization of the number of sensors (or degree of
freedom) at the input of the adaptive processing schemes.
References
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Synthetic Aperture Schemes in Integrated Active-Passive
Sonars”, Proceedings of the IEEE, 86(2), 258-297, Feb.
1998.
[2] Tawfik A., Dhanantwari A.C. and Stergiopoulos S., A
“Generic Adaptive Beamforming Structure for 2-D & 3-D
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[3] L. J. Griffths, C. w. Jim, “An Alternative Approach to
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[4] S. D. Peters, “Near-Instantaneous Convergence for
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[5] J. Krolik, D. swingler, “Multiple Broad-band Source
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[6] N. L. Owsley “Systolic Array adaptive beamforming”,
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