High range rate signaling

1. An underwater communications method for modulating and demodulating communications signals while compensating for the effects of range rate, said method comprising the steps of:

generating a communication signal with a nonlinear frequency modulated acquisition component for providing an initial estimate of the range rate, wherein said nonlinear frequency modulated acquisition component is a hyperbolic frequency modulated signal the frequency of which varies in accordance with the expression

(

1

+

v

c

)

⁢

f

,

where ν is the constant velocity between the transmitter and receiver, c is the velocity of propagation of sound in water, f is the frequency of modulation which varies from a first frequency to a last frequency, f 1 ≦f≦f n ;

generating a set of single-frequency tonals and acquiring them using said initial estimate of range rate to obtain a more precise estimate of range rate; and

demodulating said communication signal using said more precise estimate of range rate to compensate for the effects of range rate to make said communication signal appear as though range rate effects were not present in said communication signal.

2. An underwater communications method for determining and correcting communications signals for the effects of range rate, said method comprising the steps of:

generating a modulated communication signal having an initial acquisition component in the form of a hyperbolic frequency modulated (HFM) waveform;

detecting and filtering said HFM waveform with a matched filtering process to provide an initial estimate of alignment in the presence of substantial range rate;

following said HFM waveform with a number of simultaneously transmitted single-frequency tonals;

obtaining a substantial portion of said tonals using said initial estimate of alignment from filtering said HFM waveform and computing a power spectrum in which said tonals have peaks;

estimating the spectral location of said tonal peaks and comparing them with the known transmitted frequencies of said tonals to obtain the differences between them, said differences representing the Doppler shift of said tones;

calculating a range rate for each of said tonals;

averaging said tonal range rates to obtain one estimate of range rate;

correcting said initial estimate of alignment with the averaged range rate to obtain a corrected alignment; and

identifying the compression/dilation of said modulated communication signal with said corrected alignment and compensating for it by resampling to return said modulated communication signal to the form it would have had in the absence of range rate.

3. An underwater communications method for determining and correcting communications signals for the effects of range rate, said method comprising the steps of:

generating a modulated communication signal having an initial acquisition component in the form of a hyperbolic frequency modulated (HFM) waveform;

detecting and filtering said HFM waveform with a matched filtering process to provide an initial estimate of alignment in the presence of substantial range rate, said matched filtering process on said HFM waveform experiencing an unknown temporal offset which is a function of range rate;

following said HFM waveform with a number of single-frequency tonals, all transmitted simultaneously;

obtaining a substantial portion of said tonals with said initial estimate of alignment from filtering said HFM waveform and computing a power spectrum based on a predetermined transform such that said tonals have peaks in said power spectrum;

estimating the spectral location of said tonal peaks and comparing them with the known transmitted frequencies of said tonals to obtain the differences between them, said differences representing the Doppler shift of said tones;

calculating the relative velocity or range rate for each of said tonals;

averaging said range rates estimated from each of said tonals to obtain one estimate of range rate;

correcting for the initial alignment error imposed by the averaged range rate on the filtered HFM waveform; and

identifying the compression/dilation of said modulated communication signal and compensating for it by conventional resampling methods to return said modulated communication signal to the form it would have had in the absence of range rate.

4. An underwater acoustic communications modem for modulating and demodulating communications signals while compensating for the effects of range rate, said modem comprising:

means for generating a communication signal with a nonlinear frequency modulated acquisition component for providing an initial estimate of the range rate, wherein said nonlinear frequency modulated acquisition component is a hyperbolic frequency modulated signal the frequency of which varies in accordance with the expression

(

1

+

v

c

)

⁢

f

,

where ν is the constant velocity between the transmitter and receiver, c is the velocity of propagation of sound in water, f is the frequency of modulation which varies from a first frequency to a last frequency, f 1 ≦f≦f n− ;

means for generating a set of single-frequency tonals and acquiring them using said initial estimate of range rate to obtain a more precise estimate of range rate; and

means for demodulating said communication signal using said more precise estimate of range rate to compensate for the effects of range rate to make said communication signal appear as though range rate effects were not present in said communication signal.

5. An underwater acoustic communications modem for determining and correcting communications signals for the effects of range rate, said modem comprising:

transceiver means for creating and receiving acoustic signals;

electronic means including a digital signal processor (DSP) electrically coupled to said transceiver means and programmed to:

generate a modulated communication signal having an initial acquisition component in the form of a hyperbolic frequency modulated (HFM) waveform;

detect and filter said HFM waveform with a matched filtering process to provide an initial estimate of alignment in the presence of substantial range rate;

follow said HFM waveform with a number of simultaneously transmitted single-frequency tonals;

obtain a substantial portion of said tonals using said initial estimate of alignment from filtering said HFM waveform and computing a power spectrum in which said tonals have peaks;

estimate the spectral location of said tonal peaks and comparing them with the known transmitted frequencies of said tonals to obtain the differences between them, said differences representing the Doppler shift of said tones;

calculate a range rate for each of said tonals;

average said tonal range rates to obtain one estimate of range rate;

correct said initial estimate of alignment with the averaged range rate to obtain a corrected alignment; and identify the compression/dilation of said modulated communication signal with said corrected alignment and compensating for it by resampling to return said modulated communication signal to the form it would have had in the absence of range rate.