Target strength calculation using the graphics pipeline

Paper in proceeding, 2020

This paper presents a novel approach to using modern graphics card capabilities for predicting the target echo strength of an object. The key feature of this method is to inject code in the fragment shader stage of the graphics pipeline, in effect transforming the optics reflection problem of computer graphics to an acoustic reflection problem. This is exemplified with the simple situation of a rigid body and the monostatic detection case. Numerical accuracy is compared with Kirchhoff theory for simple bodies. Possibility of extending this approach to handle the multistatic case and transparent/absorbing/diffusing surfaces on the body is discussed.