Hardware-in-the-loop simulation with acoustic coupling for underwater acoustic detection system

How to supply the transducer array in detection system with acoustic signal is considered for testing and evaluating underwater acoustic detection system. In this paper, we present a particular approach to address this problem. A hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation environment is developed for testing and evaluating the existing underwater acoustic detection system. In the presented HIL simulation, a target signal simulator with acoustic coupling device is introduced into the simulation for providing acoustic signal for receiving array in detection system. With the HIL simulation by using acoustic coupling, testing and validation of underwater acoustic detection system can be performed in air condition, which reduces the testing times in underwater environment. Experiments with the developed HIL simulation are carried out and simulation results verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the HIL simulation obtained with acoustic coupling for underwater acoustic detection system.