Underwater Sound Speed Field Forecasting Based on the Least Square Support Vector Machine

Abstract

Underwater sound speed is one of the most significant factors that affects high-accuracy underwater acoustic positioning and navigation. Due to its complex temporal variation, the forecasting of the underwater sound speed field (SSF) becomes a challenging task. Taking advantage of machine learning methods, we propose a new method for SSF forecasting based on the least square support vector machine (LSSVM) and a multi-parameter model, aiming to enhance the forecasting accuracy of underwater SSF with hourly resolution. We first use a matching extension method to standardize profile data and train the LSSVM with the parameters of observation time, temperature, salinity, and depth. We then employ radial basis function kernels to construct the forecasting model of SSF. We validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the LSSVM model by comparing it with the polynomial fitting (PF) and back propagation neural network (BPNN) methods, using hourly data obtained from the measured data and open data. The results show that the means of the root mean square for the LSSVM based on the observation time parameter and the LSSVM based on the multi-parameter model achieve 0.51 m/s and 0.45 m/s, respectively, presenting a significant improvement compared with the PF (0.82 m/s) and BPNN (0.76 m/s) methods.