Dipole-based beamforming method for locating dipole sources with unknown orientations in three-dimensional domains

Area of Science:

• Acoustics
• Signal Processing
• Array Signal Processing

Background:

• Conventional delay-and-sum beamforming assumes monopole sources, which can misinterpret dipole sources and lead to inaccurate mapping.
• Existing methods may require prior knowledge of source orientation, limiting their applicability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an extended dipole-based beamforming method for accurate acoustic source localization.
• To enable the localization of dipole sources without prior knowledge of their orientation in a 3D space.

Main Methods:

• A dipole-based propagation function is utilized to calculate beamforming results at various predefined orientations and positions.
• The final source location is determined by identifying the maximum beamforming value across these predefined orientations.

Main Results:

• Numerical simulations and experimental validation were conducted using rotating dipole sources.
• The proposed method successfully located dipole sources with arbitrary orientations in a three-dimensional domain.

Conclusions:

• The dipole-based beamforming method accurately localizes dipole sources, overcoming the limitations of monopole-based approaches.
• This technique offers a robust solution for acoustic source mapping, even with unknown and arbitrary source orientations.