Modeling sound propagation for underwater test areas

1. A method of modeling sound propagation in a body of water, comprising the steps of:

obtaining SVP data for the body of water;

determining a depth of a sound source within the body of water;

selecting a first ray angle originating from the sound source;

calculating a first ray trace for the first ray angle using only the SVP data as environmental inputs;

repeating the selecting and calculating steps for second-n th ray angles to calculate second-n th ray traces for the second-n th ray angles; and

plotting the first-n th ray traces to create a ray trace plot for the body of water relative to the depth of the sound source.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the obtaining step comprises using historical SVP data for the body of water.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the obtaining step comprises measuring actual SVP data for the body of water within 24 hours of initiating the method.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sound source emits sound waves generated by the sound source.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the sound source is an active sonar device positioned at a known location and depth within the body of water.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sound source reflects sound waves generated by another source.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first-n th ray angles are selected from a predetermined range of ray angles, and are at equally spaced intervals within the range.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the calculating step further comprises:

selecting depth/sound speed pairs from the SVP data; and

calculating horizontal range from the sound source for each depth/sound speed pair.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

determining additional depths of the sound source within the body of water; and

repeating the selecting and calculating steps to create a ray trace plot for the body of water relative to each additional depth of the sound source.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sound source is an object of unknown location, the determining step assumes a plurality of different depths for the sound source, and the selecting and calculating steps are repeated to create a plurality of ray trace plots for the body of water relative to the plurality of different depths.

11. A method of confirming operability of a sonar receiver in an underwater testing environment, comprising the steps of:

obtaining SVP data for the underwater testing environment;

determining a depth of a sound source within the underwater testing environment;

selecting a first ray angle originating from the sound source;

calculating a first ray trace for the first ray angle using only the SVP data as environmental inputs;

repeating the selecting and calculating steps for second-n th ray angles to calculate second-n th ray traces for the second-n th ray angles;

plotting the first-n th ray traces to create a ray trace plot for the underwater testing environment relative to the depth of the sound source; and

deploying underwater sound transmitting and receiving equipment at a location in the underwater testing environment that intersects at least one ray trace on the ray trace plot for the sound source; and confirming that the underwater sound transmitting and receiving equipment detects the sound source.

12. A system for confirming the operability of an underwater sound receiver in an underwater testing environment, the system comprising:

means for obtaining SVP data for the underwater testing environment;

means for determining a depth of a sound source within the underwater testing environment;

means for selecting first-n th ray angles originating from the sound source;

means for calculating first-n th ray traces for the first-n th ray angles using only the SVP data;

means for plotting the first-n th ray traces to create a ray trace plot for the underwater testing environment relative to the depth of the sound source; and

means for deploying the sonar receiver at a location in the underwater testing environment that intersects at least one ray trace on the ray trace plot for the sound source; and confirming that the sound transmitting and receiving equipment detects the sound source.

13. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for implementing a method of modeling sound propagation in a body of water according to the steps of claim 1 .

14. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for confirming operability of a sonar receiver in an underwater testing environment according to the steps of claim 11 .