• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
• /
• v.29 no.7
• /
• pp.411-421
• /
• 2010

A time-reversal mirror (TRM) is useful in diverse areas, such as reverberation ing, target echo enhancement and underwater communication. In underwater communication, the bit error rate has been improved significantly due to the increased signal-to-noise ratio by spatio-temporal focusing. This paper deals with two issues. First, the optimal number of array elements for a given environment was investigated based on the exploitation of spatial diversity. Second, an algorithm was developed to determine the optimal location of the given number of array elements. The formulation is based on a genetic algorithm maximizing the contrast between the foci and area of interest as an objective function. In addition, the developed algorithm was applied to the matched field processing with ocean experimental data for verification. The sea-going data and simulation showed almost 3 dB improvement in the output power at the foci when the array elements were optimally distributed.