Performance Enhancement of Drone Acoustic Source Localization Through Distributed Microphone Arrays

Area of Science:

• Acoustics
• Signal Processing
• Robotics and Autonomous Systems

Background:

• Conventional sound source localization methods struggle with accuracy in complex acoustic environments.
• Anti-drone systems require precise localization for effective threat mitigation.
• Existing techniques often face challenges in distinguishing between azimuth and elevation angles, impacting performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel sound source localization method for anti-drone systems.
• To enhance localization accuracy by precisely estimating the azimuth angle.
• To validate the proposed method's effectiveness through simulations and field tests.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing two sets of distributed microphone arrays.
• Applying the Generalized Cross-Correlation Phase Transform (GCC-PHAT) technique.
• Estimating azimuth and elevation angles while considering drone acoustic characteristics.

Main Results:

• Significantly reduced localization errors (mean and variance) in ideal conditions compared to existing techniques.
• Outperformed comparison methods in noisy environments, achieving up to 2.13 m improvement at SNR > 0 dB.
• Maintained stable performance across all axes, effectively distinguishing azimuth and elevation angles, unlike comparison methods.

Conclusions:

• The proposed localization method offers superior accuracy and robustness for anti-drone applications.
• The technique effectively addresses limitations of conventional methods in noisy and complex acoustic scenarios.
• Field test results confirm the simulation findings, demonstrating practical reliability.