Power Estimation of Acoustic Sources by Sensor Array Processing

A constant problem is to localize a number of acoustic sources, to separate their individual signals and to estimate their strengths in a propagation medium. An acoustic receiving array with signal processing algorithms is then used. The most widely used algorithm is the conventional beamforming algorithm but it has a very low resolution and high sidelobes that may cause a signal leakage problem. Several new signal processors for arrays of sensors are derived to evaluate the strengths of acoustic signals arriving at an array of sensors. In particular, we present the covariance vector estimator and the pseudoinverse of the array manifold matrix estimator. The covariance vector estimator uses only the correlations between sensors and the pseudoinverse of the array manifold matrix estimator operates with the minimum eigenvalues of the covariance matrix. Numerical and experimental results are presented.