Adaptive ping control for track-holding in multistatic active sonar networks

Distributed multistatic active sonar networks provide an Anti-Submarine Warfare capability against small, quiet, threat submarines in the harsh clutter-saturated littoral and deeper ocean environments. Adaptive ping control techniques provide the potential to significantly increase the multistatic network´s performance, by pinging (in an optimum sense) the right source, at the right time, with the right waveform. This paper describes an automatic, adaptive ping control algorithm. It specifically addresses the “trackhold” objective, which is to adapt multistatic sonar operations to maintain and hold one or more target tracks which have been previously initiated (detected). The approach is unique in that it includes both sonar performance modeling and multistatic tracker outputs, in a closed-loop control structure. The paper motivates the approach, describes the algorithm, and shows some validating results. The evaluation utilizes a simple sonar performance model, a ping contact simulator, and a multistatic target tracker. Results are shown for a simple simulated scenario, showing the advantages of this adaptive ping control algorithm compared to using a preplanned, non-adaptive ping transmission schedule.