Effect of Intermodal Correlations on the Efficiency of the Spatial Processing of Acoustic Signals in an Oceanic Waveguide with a Perturbed Surface

The effect of intermodal correlations on the efficiency of the spatial processing of a signal in oceanic waveguides with a perturbed surface is studied. An algorithm of calculating the correlation matrix of a signal on the aperture of a horizontal antenna array with allowance for the interferential structure of an acoustic field in the sound channel is proposed. The antenna gain factor is analyzed for three spatial-processing methods, such as the standard phased antenna array, optimal linear processing, and optimal quadratic optimization techniques. The results of numerical modeling for the hydrological conditions of the Barents Sea in the winter period are given. Particular attention is paid to interferential oscillations in the gain factor of an antenna array and the dependence of its values “smoothened” at the scale of the interferential structure of an acoustic field in a waveguide on the problem parameters.