Abstract
A method of extracting wave parameters from surface displacement measured from a moving platform is presented. The article first presents a method for accurately measuring surface displacement using a single beam altimeter and heave sensor. A least squares approach is presented to estimate wave parameters using vessel velocity and perceived wave frequency that eliminates Doppler due to vessel motion. Two techniques for estimating wave frequency are presented: a block data method using MUSIC and a real-time method using demodulation. Sea trial results demonstrate that this method is as effective as a WaveRider buoy for estimating wave parameters.
Acknowledgments
This work is funded by the Office of Naval Research through the Naval Research Laboratory under Program Element 62435N. The mention of commercial products or the use of company names does not in any way imply endorsement by the U.S. Navy. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. NRL contribution number NRL/JA/7440-02-1012. The authors would like to thank William Avera of the Naval Research Laboratory for collecting and providing Waverider data. The authors would also like to acknowledge Steve Woolven of Applied Analytics Corporation for providing details regarding the POS/MV heave filter.