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Locating far-field impulsive sound sources in air by triangulation.
Brian G Ferguson1, Lionel G Criswick, Kam W Lo
1Defence Science and Technology Organisation, Pyrmont, NSW, Australia.
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|February 8, 2002
Summary
Improved acoustic methods enhance gun-ranging accuracy. By refining time-delay estimations and using orthogonal sensor pairs, this study reduces errors in pinpointing acoustic source positions for artillery and mortars.
Area of Science:
- Acoustics
- Signal Processing
- Geophysics
Background:
- Acoustic gun-ranging systems locate sound sources using sensor arrays.
- Estimating source position relies on precise time-of-arrival measurements.
- Existing methods can be susceptible to errors in sound speed and sensor orientation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To refine acoustic gun-ranging by employing advanced time-delay estimation techniques.
- To quantify the variability in source bearing and position estimates.
- To investigate methods for reducing bias errors in acoustic source localization.
Main Methods:
- Cross-correlation of digitized sensor outputs to estimate time-of-arrival differences.
- Triangulation of source position using bearings derived from time-delay estimates.
- Analysis of field experimental data from artillery guns, mortars, and grenades.
- Evaluation of bias errors related to sound speed and sensor pair orientation.
Main Results:
- Improved time-delay estimation refines source position accuracy.
- Bias errors in bearing estimates are dependent on sensor-source geometry.
- Combining data from orthogonal sensor pairs significantly reduces bias errors.
- Variability in estimates was quantified across different impulsive sound sources.
Conclusions:
- Advanced time-delay estimation improves acoustic source localization.
- Sensor-source orientation and sound speed variations introduce bias.
- Utilizing orthogonal sensor pairs is an effective strategy to mitigate localization errors.