Abstract
Passive acoustic target detection has been a hot research topic for a few decades. Azimuth recording diagram is one of the most promising techniques to estimate the arrival direction of the interested signal by visualizing the sound wave information. However, this method is challenged by the random ambient noise, resulting in low reliability and short effective distance. This paper presents a real-time postprocessing framework for passive acoustic target detection modalities by using a sonar array, in which image processing methods are used to automate the target detecting and tracking on the azimuth recording diagram. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed approach can provide a higher reliability compared with the conventional ones, and is suitable for the constraints of real-time tracking.
Highlights
The passive sonar detection technique is important for ocean exploration
Direction of arrival (DOA) estimation is a crucial topic in the field of passive sonar information processing [1,2,3]
Conventional target tracking methods based on the azimuth recording diagram use the local power optima of the beams performed with different arrival directions as the patterns to track, which is easy to deviate from the trajectory due to the influences of ambient noise, so we enhance the trajectory patterns by using spatial separation methods, which significantly facilitates the tracking tasks
Summary
The passive sonar detection technique is important for ocean exploration. As shown in Figure 1, the radiated noise of underwater acoustic targets, such as engine noise, active detection pulse, and underwater acoustic communication pulse, can be used by a passive sonar array for direction estimation and tracking. Based on the CBF-like techniques, azimuth recording diagram is developed to facilitate DOA estimation by visualizing the received signal information. This paper is an extension of our previous work presented in the ICSIP 2019 [14] It presents an image postprocessing framework for automatic target detecting and tracking within the underwater acoustic azimuth recording diagram, where advanced image processing techniques are innovationally applied for azimuth recoding diagram analysis. Conventional target tracking methods based on the azimuth recording diagram use the local power optima of the beams performed with different arrival directions as the patterns to track, which is easy to deviate from the trajectory due to the influences of ambient noise, so we enhance the trajectory patterns by using spatial separation methods, which significantly facilitates the tracking tasks.
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