Technical metrics for acoustic evaluation

A Technical Metrics Workshop was held at NRL Stennis Space Center, MS, by the NRL Acoustics Division April 29 - May 1, 2008. The primary goal of the workshop was to identify the state-of-the-art technical and scientific metrics for the acoustic and oceanographic research and development communities. A second goal was to relate scientific metrics to engineering and performance metrics, and outline the inclusion of uncertainties in various parameters using metric variability. Participation in the workshop was significant. State-of-the-art technical applications, as well as brief insights into future metrics, requirements for metrics, standards or reference level metrics were presented. This paper briefly summarizes and presents the conclusions of the workshop. This work is a useful reference for building consistent technical metrics within the ocean and acoustic research and development community, as well as providing common guidance for measuring exit and milestone criteria, and for quantifying the contributions of interdisciplinary projects.