Characterization of buried objects using wideband signals

This paper deals with buried object localization using a towed flexible array of sensors. We consider a new model by taking into account both the reflection and the refraction of wave at water-sediment interface. A new directional vector containing the bearings and the ranges of objects is proposed instead of classical plane wave used in MUSIC algorithm. To decorrelate the received signals and to estimate the coherent signal subspace a fast focusing operator is proposed. The robust DIRECT (DIviding RECTangles) method accelerated by spline interpolation is applied to estimate simultaneously the bearings and the ranges in the presence of phase errors. The performance of the developed methods is investigated on experimental data recorded during underwater acoustics experiments.