Design and calibration issues for current profiling systems: High-frequency volumetric backscattering in an oceanic environment

Acoustic remote current profiling systems are becoming recognized as useful oceanographic tools. System design and calibration issues, therefore, must be addressed so that researchers and their readers have a reasonably clear understanding of the operational choices and performance limitations of a given device in a particular current and scattering regime. It has been shown that the reverberation field sensed by these devices is a complex function of frequency, depth, location, time of day and year. Optimization of system design and selection of operating parameters to study a given phenomenon become complex when dealing with such variations. This paper discusses sonar system design basics and presents a short discussion on methods to calibrate generic systems. In addition, the interaction between system operating parameter selections and measurement errors is illustrated.