Comparison of target classification accuracy according to the aspect angle and the bistatic angle in bistatic sonar

In bistatic sonar operation, the scattering strength of a sonar target is characterized by the probe signal frequency, the aspect angle and the bistatic angle. Therefore, the target detection and identification performance of the bistatic sonar may vary depending on how the positions of the target, sound source, and receiver are changed during sonar operation. In this study, it was evaluated which variable is advantageous to change by comparing the target identification performance between the case of changing the aspect angle and the case of changing the bistatic angle during the operation. A scenario of identifying a hollow sphere and a cylinder was assumed, and performance was compared by classifying two targets with a support vector machine and comparing their accuracy using a finite element method-based acoustic scattering simulation. As a result of comparison, using the scattering strength defined by the frequency and the bistatic angle with the aspect angle fixed showed superior average classification accuracy. It means that moving the receiver to change the bistatic angle is more effective than moving the sound source to change the aspect angle for target identification.