A Study on the Effects of Parameter Sensitivity on Matched Field Processing

Matched Field Processing (MFP) is a successive process of correcting mismatches between true and assumed parameters by matching the measured acoustic field data with numerically simulated data which we call replica. The MFP is widely used both in geo-acoustic parameter inversions and in source localizations. Whether a certain parameter can be inverted effectively or whether a source can be localized correctly depends on the amount of the influence that a parameter has on the acoustic field during the matching process. Sensitive parameters can be better estimated than the less sensitive ones in MFP. On the contrary, the sensitive parameters affect adversely on the source localization results when they have uncertainties. In this paper, a sensitivity index is defined based upon the field variation resulting from the perturbed parameters. Numerical test results show that the index behaves in accordance with the results of source localization under a mismatched environment and also with the inversion solutions.