Multipaths resolution by a combination of homomorphic and Wiener filtering

Deconvolution methods are applied to underwater propagation, and the received signal is modeled as the convolution between the wavelet and the medium impulse response. The aim of the method is to extract information on backscattering, travel time delays, boundary reflection and refraction from the received signal on a point receiver on an array. Since experimental data are generally mixed-phase, due in part to the multiple reflections (bottom and surface), conventional linear filtering, which assumes the minimum-phase property, loses in efficacy. To handle the mixed-phase characteristic of the data, the author first applies a homomorphic filter to separate the signal into its minimum and maximum phase components and to deconvolve the wavelet. He then estimates the medium impulse response by means of a Wiener filter. The efficacy of the method is shown on both simulated and real data