Analysis of direction finding techniques using a single underwater acoustic vector sensor

Abstract

Underwater acoustic vector sensors (AVS) are devices which can measure scalar pressure and three dimensional acceleration or particle velocity with only one sensor. Bearing estimation for the target can be accomplished by these four measured scalar values. Algorithms based on closed-form expressions or beamforming can be carried out for direction finding by using the axial projections of the gradient vector of the pressure from the target. In this work, the performances of direction of arrival estimation algorithms for underwater acoustic vector sensors are analyzed in detail under the effects of various error sources such as imperfect projections and ambient noise.