A Novel Beam-Domain Direction-of-Arrival Tracking Algorithm for an Underwater Target

• Published in: Remote sensing (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 16; no. 21; p. 4074
• Main Authors: Hou, Xianghao, Hua, Weisi, Chen, Yuxuan, Yang, Yixin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.11.2024
• Subjects: Accuracy; adaptive beamforming; Algorithms; Analysis; Arrays; Beamforming; Design; Direction of arrival; Directivity; Drownings; Extended Kalman filter; Hydrophones; Methods; Parameter estimation; Passive sonar; PID control method; Sidelobes; Signal processing; Signal to noise ratio; Tracking; Underwater; underwater target tracking
• DOI: 10.3390/rs16214074
• ISSN: 2072-4292

Underwater direction-of-arrival (DOA) tracking using a hydrophone array is an important research subject in passive sonar signal processing. In this study, a DOA tracking algorithm based on a novel beam-domain signal processing technique is proposed to ensure robust DOA tracking of an interested underwater target under a low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) environment. Firstly, the beam-based observation is designed and proposed, which innovatively applies beamforming after array-based observation to achieve specific spatial directivity. Next, the proportional–integral–differential (PID)-optimized Olen–Campton beamforming method (PIDBF) is designed and proposed in the beamforming process to achieve faster and more stable sidelobe control performance to enhance the SNR of the target. The adaptive dynamic beam window is designed and proposed to focusing the observation on more likely observation area. Then, by utilizing the extended Kalman filter (EKF) tracking framework, a novel PIDBF-optimized beam-domain DOA tracking algorithm (PIDBF-EKF) is proposed. Finally, simulations with different SNR scenarios and comprehensive analyses are made to verify the superior performance of the proposed DOA tracking approach.