Position determination of acoustic source using a discrete probability density method supported by joint detection and time of arrival estimation

Abstract

The localization of various acoustic sources in a battlefield (such as weapon rounds, mortars, rockets, mines, improvised explosive devices, vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices and airborne vehicles) nowadays has significant history. In acoustic source localization systems multiple sensors (such as microphones or microphone arrays), placed at known positions and networked, are used to detect signals emitted from the source and perform localization of the source. In this paper, Discrete Probability Density (DPD) method, as a method for position determination, has been used to estimate location of acoustic sources such as artillery weapons. Wavelet decomposition of the acoustic signal enables to emphasize N-wave in the time domain. Time of Arrival (TOA) estimation is realized by a statistical analysis of narrow time segment which hold Nwave. Based on the estimated TOA Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) is calculated. TDOA presents relative time difference of arrival of the sound signal between pairs of sensors. Localization of the acoustic sources is performed by time difference estimation of acoustic signal arrivals using Discrete Probability Density method. A number of experiments with fire off mortar projectiles have been conducted in order to verify the performance of the proposed approach.