Performance of Acoustic Tracking Arrays in Atmospheric Turbulence.
Abstract
A method is described for assessing the performance of acoustic arrays used to determine source bearings. The method involves calculation of the Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB), which characterizes the best performance obtainable for a given array configuration and set of operating conditions. The CRLB calculations are used to show that the performance of the arrays depends on the sensor configuration, the acoustic frequency, the distance from the source, the background noise, and atmospheric turbulence. Near to the source, and at low frequencies, it is the background noise that limits array performance. Turbulence becomes the limiting factor as the distance and frequency are increased. When performance is limited by turbulence, the calculations are found to be very sensitive to the particular turbulence model used. The von Karman type of model appears to provide the most reasonable CRLB calculations. The turbulent degradation is found to result primarily from small-scale fluctuations in the wind velocity. Performance predictions for ARL's Remote Netted Acoustic Detection System (RNADS) are presented; it is found that RNADS should provide angle-of-arrival (AOA) accuracy of several degrees or better for signal-to-noise ratios above 10 dB during most atmospheric turbulence conditions.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA327901
Entities
People
- David K. Wilson
Organizations
- United States Army Research Laboratory