Characterization and decomposition of waveforms for Larsen 500 airborne system

The authors describe a method of accurately decomposing a Larsen waveform into the surface and bottom reflections, independently of the degree of their overlap. A mathematical model that can be used to characterize the Larsen waveforms received under diverse circumstances is established. This model is used in conjunction with an optimization technique to facilitate the decomposition of each Larsen waveform into surface and bottom reflections. The optimized parameters of the mathematical model are used to give sea depth estimates. The resolution of Larsen waveforms into two separate components by means of this technique offers two important advantages. First, sea depths can be readily determined from the displacement between the two components without human intervention, that is, the processing can be automated. Second, fairly accurate sea depths can be deduced even in cases where the two reflections strongly overlap