Ray-based blind deconvolution in ocean sound channels

This letter describes a ray-based blind deconvolution technique for ocean sound channels that produces broadband estimates of the source-to-array impulse response and the original source waveform from array-measured signals corrupted by (unknown) multipath propagation. The technique merely requires elementary knowledge of array geometry and sound speed at the array location. It is based on identifying a ray arrival direction to separate source waveform and acoustic-propagation phase contributions to the received signals. This technique successfully decoded underwater telecommunication sequences in the bandwidth 3-4 kHz that were broadcast 4 km in a 120-m-deep ocean sound channel without a-priori knowledge of sound channel characteristics.