High resolution broadband FFT beamformer simulation and analysis

Concerns the navigation of unknown regions by autonomous underwater vehicles using high-resolution sonar beamforming. A general computer simulation that allows the analysis of a broadband fast Fourier transform (FTT) beamformer using finite wordlength arithmetic has been developed. It is possible to vary individually the wordlengths of each processor involved in the beamforming calculations, as well as the target effects such as background noise, angle to target, and signal frequency (due to Doppler and other effects). It allows the system designer to evaluate the performance of a broadband FFT beamformer system with quantization. noise, and various target effects included. A significant feature of the simulation is the ability to consider individual effects as well as various combinations of effects, in order to determine the limiting factors in the sonar design