Design of an Acoustic Target Classification System Based on Small-Aperture Microphone Array

Abstract

The acoustic recognition module of the unattended ground sensor (UGS) system applied in wild environments is faced with the challenge of complicated noise interference. In this paper, a small-aperture microphone array (MA)-based acoustic target classification system, including the system hardware architecture and classification algorithm scheme, is designed as a node-level sensor for the application of UGS in noisy situation. Starting from the analysis of signature of the acoustic signal in wild environments and the merits of small-aperture array in noise reduction, a closely arranged microelectromechanical systems MA is designed to improve the signal quality. Considering the similarities between speaker discrimination and acoustic target recognition, a classification algorithm scheme, consisting of a simplified Mel-frequency cepstrum coefficients and the Gaussian mixture model, is developed to distinguish acoustic targets’ patterns. The proposed classification algorithm has been implemented on embedded system after being tested on training datasets. By combining the small-aperture array and low-complexity classification algorithm, the presented acoustic classification prototype system is portable and efficient. To demonstrate the efficiency of the design, the prototype system is verified in a practical situation with the employment of wheeled and tracked vehicles. Evaluation of the system performances in comparison with other state-of-the-art methods indicates that the proposed design is practical for the acoustic target classification and may be widely adopted by UGS.