Orientation effects on linear time-reversing array retrofocusing in shallow water.

A time-reversing array (TRA) can retrofocus acoustic energy, in both time and space, to the original sound-source location without any environmental information. This paper presents results from an analytical and computational investigation into the effects that array orientation has on linear TRA retrofocusing in shallow water environments. A linear TRA has three limiting orthogonal orientations with respect to a distant sound source in a shallow water waveguide: vertical, endfire, and broadside. Here, TRA retrofocus characteristics are predicted for monochromatic sound propagation in a Pekeris waveguide using a modal sum Green's function and in a more realistic sound channel having vertical sound speed variation using a computed Green's function. Both analytical and computational results are compared for the three orthogonal array orientations with vertical arrays performing best. Differences in TRA retrofocusing performance in the three orientations are primarily determined by geometrical considerations and the extra mode-shape weighting inherent in the back-propagated field of horizontal TRAs.