Two-dimensional direction finding of acoustic sources by a vector sensor array using the propagator method

This paper considers a new azimuth-elevation direction finding algorithm for multiple acoustic plane wave signals using acoustic vector array. Firstly, a planar-plus-an-isolated sensor array geometry [P. Li, J. Sun, B. Yu, Two-dimensional spatial spectrum estimation of coherent signals without spatial smoothing and eigendecomposition, IEE Proc.-Radar Sonar Navigat. 143(5) (October 1996) 295–299] is exploited and a cross-covariance matrix is defined. Then the propagator method is used to estimate the steering vectors of acoustic vector sensors. Finally, a closed-form, automatically paired azimuth-elevation angle estimates are derived. The presented algorithm shows high azimuth-elevation estimation accuracy due to array aperture extension. In addition, the new algorithm does not need the eigen-decomposition and 2D iterative searching, and is applicable to coherent (fully correlated) signals and spatially correlated noises. Therefore, the algorithm shows low computational complexity and robustness. Monte-Carlo simulations are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.