Underwater sources location in non-Gaussian impulsive noise environments

The class of alpha-stable distributions is better for modeling impulsive noise than Gaussian distribution in array signal processing. After briefly introducing the statistical characteristics of stable distribution and the fractional lower order statistics, including the covariation and the fractional order correlation, this paper proposes a new FOC-ESPRIT method of 2-D direction finding based on the fractional order correlation and subspace technique for underwater 2-D source localization using a vector hydrophones array under alpha-stable noise conditions. A vector hydrophone comprises two or three spatially co-located, orthogonally oriented identical velocity hydrophones (each of which measures one Cartesian component of the underwater acoustical particle velocity vector-field) plus an optional pressure hydrophone. Simulation experiments show that the proposed method is robust in a wide range of characteristic exponent values of stable distribution. Its performances are better than those of the conventional second-order statistics based ESPRIT algorithm, furthermore, the fractional order correlation is more suitable than the covariation in practical applications.