Underwater acoustic glider target detection experiments and performance evaluation in the South China Sea

Aiming at the problem of target detection for traditional means with low-effectiveness ratios and severely affected by harsh sea conditions. It urgent need to build a safe and effective, multi-dimensional sea target detection system. Underwater acoustic gliders can be widely used in sea target detection due to their advantages of good concealment performance, strong environment adaptability and low cost. Sea target detection is greatly affected by the complex marine environment, and it is necessary to carry out systematic, long-term, and in-depth research. Carrying out underwater acoustic glider sea target detection experiments and acquiring detection capabilities for different maritime targets is an important means to effectively advance the research. This paper focuses on the performance of underwater acoustic glider on different surface ship target detection experiments, and evaluates and summarizes performance from three aspects: target detection distance, target azimuth estimation accuracy, and -3dB beam width. Finally, the problems in the previous trials were sorted out, and the focus of the future research directions was prospected.