Special Sessions
(Note:  Please see ASA website for additional special sessions sponsored by Acoustical Oceanography, Signal Processing in Acoustics, and Animal Bioacoustics, that are co-sponsored by Underwater Acoustics)
Special Sessions Sponsored or Co-sponsored by Underwater Acoustics
for the Miami, FL Meeting, (Fall 2008):

Title:  Acoustics of harbors, ports, and shallow navigable waterways
Topics and applications relating to acoustic propagation in, or acoustic characterization of, near shore waterways. Relevant topics include acoustic applications for harbor defense, low-frequency acoustic propagation including tidal effects and temporal water column variability, and ambient noise levels in harbors .
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Kyle Becker
Title:  Robust Array Processing
Techniques to reduce the sensitivity of array processors to environmental and array element mismatch .
Sponsoring TC:  UW and SP
POC & Organizer:  Claire Debever
Title:  Attenuation Coefficients of Sediments from low to mid-frequencies
There is much debate about the slope of the frequency dependance of the low- to mid-frequency sediment attenuation coefficient.
Sponsoring TC:  AO and UW
POC & Organizer:  Jim Lynch
Title:  Three-dimensional acoustics and inversions on the Continental shelf and canyons
Complex oceanography, geology, and acoustic propagation for the Continental shelf and the canyons that cross it .
Sponsoring TC:  AO and UW
POC & Organizer:  Jim Lynch
Title:  Autonomous system acoustic sensors and processors
Acoustic sensors and signal processors for the development of fully autonomous systems in unmanned vehicles for detection, localization, tracking, classification, or obstacle avoidance.
Sponsoring TC:  SP, UW, and EA
POC & Organizer:  Juan Arvelo
Title:  Recent developments in coded signals in acoustics
Overview of improvements in the theory and application of coded signals to architectural, audio, biomedical, environmental, remote sensing, and underwater acoustics.
Sponsoring TC:  SP, UW, AA, and BU
POC & Organizer:  David Waddington
Title:  Signal processing for high clutter environments
Signal processing methods used in the presence of high clutter such as dense shipping lanes, harbors, complex machinery and battlefields using both single sensors and distributed networks .
Sponsoring TC:  SP and UW
POC & Organizer:  Ron Wagstaff

Special Sessions Sponsored or Co-sponsored by Underwater Acoustics
for the Paris, France Meeting, (Spring 2008):

Title:  Seabed and Sea Surface Interaction Measurements and Modeling
This session will emphasize modeling and interpretation of measurements of underwater acoustic interaction with marine boundaries. A particular focus will be on short range studies for which details of the interaction are identified, although contributions pertaining to multiple interaction are encouraged.
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Peter Dahl and Mike Ainslie
Title:  Fifty Years of Progress in Sonar Acoustic Research: the Role of NURC/SACLANTCEN
With NURC approaching its 50th anniversary it is appropriate to assess its contributions to sonar acoustic research on both sides of the Atlantic.
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Finn Jensen and Henrik Schmidt
Title:  Auralization of Sonar Signals
Human operators and marine mammals are able to outperform man-made systems in variety of sonar classification tasks, both passive and active. This session will discuss bio-inspired techniques in which sonar signals are represented using psychoacoustic or audiological models.
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Paul Hines and Paul White
Title:  Sonar System and Transducer Calibration Methodology
New or developing methods, including novel applications of existing methods, for the calibration of active or passive sonar systems.
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Ken Foote and Stephen Robinson
Title:  Determination of Acoustic Properties of Materials for Sonar Applications
This session covers test methods to determine the acoustic properties and performance of materials used in sonar applications, for example for baffles, windows and absorbers.
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Ken Foote and Stephen Robinson
Title:  Acoustic Vector Fields and Sensor Processing,
This special session will focus on advances in the understanding and modeling of the acoustic vector field, the means of measuring the acoustic vector field, and the processing schemes being developed to exploit the acoustic vector field in ocean environments.
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Kevin Smith and Jean-Pierre Hermand
Title:  Impact of Environmental Variability on Mid-Frequency Sonar Performance
Environmental impact on mid-frequency (1-20 kHz) sonar performance in shallow water.
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  DJ Tang and Paul Hines and Peter Nielsen
Title:  Geoacoustic Sediment Modeling
Measurements, modeling and inversion of geophysical and geoacoustic sediment interactions and related issues.
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Nick Chotiros and Jean-Pierre Sessarego
Title:  Impact of Internal Waves on Shallow Water Propagation
Shallow water internal waves are common and often quite strong. They greatly affect shallow water propagation in a fully 3-dimensional manner. Modern measurements show this quite clearly, also as a function of frequency.
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Jim Lynch and Thomas Folegot
Title:  Tank Experiments
This session is divided into two main parts; the first one will focus on the modeling of target scatter and the second one on the benchmarking of environmental acoustics models.
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Ray Soukup and Jean-Pierre Sessarego
Title:  High Frequency Variability
Impact of the environment on high frequency propagation.
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Marcia Isakson and Thomas Folegot
Title:  Nonlinear Acoustic Methods in Searching for Buried Objects,
The session will consist of papers devoted to theory application of methods of nonlinear acoustics and parametric sonars for sea bed structure investigation, especially for searching of buried objects like mines, pipes, archeological objects and so on.
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Benjamin Dzikowicz and Eugeniusz Kozaczka
Title:  Numerical Methods in Underwater Scattering
The Target Strength is the most common physical value in sonar techniques for describing the acoustical back- or forward scattering strength of an obstacle totally or partially submerged in water. Recent numerical methods are investigated for the lower, the middle and the high frequency range.
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Andrew Seybert , Martin Ochmann nd Bodo Nolte
Title:  Broadband Underwater Communications
New developments in underwater acoustic communications.
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Heechun Song and Sergio Jesus
Title:  High Frequency Scattering
This session will present the latest experimental and theoretical research in high-frequency scattering underwater, on/in the seabed and on/in targets.
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Tony Lyons , Philippe Blondel and Nick Pace
Title:  Low-Frequency and High-Frequency Synthetic Aperture Sonar
High resolution imaging of the seafloor and of buried objects by synthetic aperture techniques.
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Peter Gough and Roy Hansen
Title:  Sensor Coalition
This session looks at sensing methods in underwater acoustics with an emphasis on the benefits of sensor combinations (including multistatic) and the tradeoffs imposed by networking in the maritime domain. Clustered together, various sensor fields will offer the opportunity to further exploit the advantages of different sensing physics. Papers illustrated with examples of performance modeling and/or field work validation are welcome.
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Henrik Schmidt and Stephane Jespers
Title:  Synthetic Aperture Sonar and Radar Convergences
This session is related to the comparison between Synthetic Aperture Radar and Sonar techniques in order to achieve similar level of products: interferometry, 3D reconstruction, imaging.
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Jim Candy , Hugh Griffiths and Rene Garello
Title:  Sound Propagation in 3D environments
Talks are welcome on observation of three-dimensional propagation effects at sea, three-dimensional environmental characterization, and numerical methods for solving three-dimensional propagation problems. Topics may include but are not limited to: forward scattering by seamounts, propagation in the presence of eddies, azimuthal refraction, low- frequency sound propagation near islands, acoustic intensity fluctuation caused by three-dimensional internal waves, challenges of azimuthal resolution in models at long ranges, and efficient numerical algorithms for fully three-dimensional propagation.
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  David Calvo and Michael Taroudakis
Title:  Scattering from Objects Near Boundaries
Experimental results and/or modeling results at any frequency for scattering from localized objects near boundaries such as the seabed or the sea surface.
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Eric Thorsos and Mario Zampolli
Title:  Automatic Target Recognition, Sensors and Algorithms
This sessions addresses the entire process of detection and classification of underwater targets including sensor design, deployment strategies, signal design, target scattering and automatic target recognition algorithms. Applications include diver detection, harbor surveillance, marine mammals detection as well as minelike targets.
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Gerald Dobeck , Marc Pinto and Yvan Petillot
Title:  Acoustic Data Fusion
New or developing methods for multisensor cooperation and data fusion.
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Eric Maillard and Benoit Zerr
Title:  Noise Suppression, Robust Direction of Arrival, and Target Strength Estimation
Noise ANS may distord the mainlobe, yielding large errors in both DOA and TS estimation. This may be a problem especially in fishery research but also in underwater positioning and seafloor mapping and characterization. This session invites paper about these problems both about signal processing methods and technological solutions.
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Georges Bienvenu and Ron Wagstaff
Special Sessions Sponsored or Co-sponsored by Underwater Acoustics
for the New Orleans, LA Meeting, (Fall 2007):

Title:  Design of distributed surveillance and oceanographic monitoring systems
Integrated sensing, processing and control concepts for distributed acoustic sensing systems with low-bandwidth, high-latency communication infrastructure. Exploitation of environmental and situational adaptivity, and collaborative processing.
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Henrik Schmidt (MIT)
Title:  Underwater reverberation measurements and modeling
Reverberation modeling, including benchmark problems/solutions and datasets appropriate for model validation.
Sponsoring TC:  UW
POC & Organizer:  Eric Thorsos and John Perkins
Title:  Deep and shallow seismic sensing of geological structure in the ocean bottom
Applications of seismic methods to investigate geophysical processes and geological structure in the ocean bottom.
Sponsoring TC:  AO and UW
POC & Organizer:  John Goff and Altan Turgut
Special Sessions Sponsored or Co-sponsored by Underwater Acoustics
for Salt Lake City, UT Meeting, (Spring 2007):

Title:  Passive imaging and monitoring using random wavefields
Theoretical and experimental studies of the propagating medium using coherent processing of random wavefields (ambient noise, scattered fields, sources of opportunity).
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Karim Sabra (MPL-SIO)

Special Sessions Sponsored or Co-sponsored by Underwater Acoustics
for the Honolulu, HI Meeting, (Fall 2006):

Title:  Quantifying the Effects of Sediment Properties on Dispersion, Attenuation, Reflection, Scattering, and Buried Target Detection
Topics will include recent results on sound speed dispersion and attenuation in marine sediments, acoustics of the surficial transition layer (e.g., bottom reflection and depth dependence of compressional and shear wave velocities), bottom scattering, and buried target detection.
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Eric Thorsos (APL-UW) and Masao Kimura (Tokai University)
Title:  Session in Honor of Leonid Brekhovskikh
(special named session with invited talks)
This session honors the many contributions of Leonid Brekhovskikh to the understanding of wave propagation in layered media.
Sponsoring TC:  UW
POC & Organizer:  Oleg Godin and Bill Kuperman
Title:  Session in Honor of Fred Fisher
(special named session without invited talks)
This session honors the many contributions of of Fred Fisher to underwater acoustics and acoustical oceanography.
Sponsoring TC:  UW
POC & Organizer:  Bill Kuperman
Special Sessions Sponsored or Co-sponsored by Underwater Acoustics
for the Providence, RI Meeting (June 2006):

Title:  High-Frequency Ambient Noise
Measurements and modeled comparisons of ambient noise anisotropy at mid- to high-frequencies (>1kHz).
Sponsoring TC:  UW and AO
POC & Organizer:  Juan Arvelo
Title:  Scattering of Sound at the Sea Surface
This session will focus on quantifying the interaction of sound waves with a time-varying sea surface on all scales of roughness. Contributions involving modeling and or measurements (field or laboratory) are encouraged.
Sponsoring TC:  UW
POC & Organizer:  Duncan Williams
Title:  High Frequency Acoustic Propagation and Applications
The impacts of ocean processes on high frequency underwater acoustic propagation and their application to tomography and acoustic communications.
Sponsoring TC:  UW
POC & Organizer:  Jim Preisig
Title:  Joe Blue Memorial Session Part 2:  Shallow Water and Animal Acoustics
Will cover propagation, marine animal acoustics, noise and masking.
Sponsoring TC:  AO, UW and AB
POC & Organizer:  Tom Muir