The Measurements of Relative Q of Ocean Sub-Bottom by Digital Signal Processing Techniques

Using a Fast Fourier transform algorithms, the remotely obtained digitized real time acoustic data of the subbottom is converted into a frequency domain representation for both the input and the reflected pulses. Since the digitized time series resembles damped harmonic oscillators, the frequency domain representation of the pulses - input and reflected - is used in the measurement of Q. This measurement which gives a low, medium or high Q forms the basis for the classification of sediments.