The major area of research of this grant is wave scattering from rough surfaces with emphasis on numerical studies of rough surface scattering models with the objective of developing a surface scattering model that accurately predicts acoustic wave scattering, first from the ocean surface and later from the ocean bottom. Ultimately, what is needed is a model that will work for the most general type of boundary condition and that can be used for electromagnetic waves as well as acoustic and optical waves. This is a very difficult problem which researchers have been working on for decades. It is only with the recent introduction of high-speed computers and workstations that a solution has become practicable. In particular investigation into such problems as the detection of ship wakes and the estimation of wave height and direction will be carried out. Co- investigators will include a physical oceanographer, a signal processor, a fluid dynamicist, a fluid experimentalist, and acoustician, a surface scattering modeler and are currently searching for a remote sensing experimentalist and an image processor to fill positions in the electrical engineering department.
