P. Caro,
UPM - Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Campus Sur, 28031 Madrid, Spain
A. Silva, asilva@ualg.pt
ISR - Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal
Comments: download pdf.
Ref.: Oceans'11, Santander, Spain, June 2011.
Abstract
In this paper an unmanned sperm whale localization technique is presented. It focuses on the localization of sperm
whales using a two-hydrophone array passive localization system. It is based on the beamforming technique and on the
time delay between the direct and surface reflected wavefronts. The proposed method is based on that presented by
E. K. Skarsoulis [1] and it aims to develop a low computational complexity signal processing system, which can operate
autonomously in remote buoys with power and computational limitations. This study consists on the analysis of the
improvements provided by using beamforming theory on the method proposed in [1]. The equipment used mainly composed of
two hydrophone arrays deployed near the surface. It was found that the accuracy of this methodology depends on the
array's location and can be improved by increasing the depth and the separation between the arrays and/or decreasing
the angle formed by the line which crosses through the arrays with respect to the horizontal plane. The performance of
the proposed method is evaluated through simulations using a real sperm whale signal in deep water, in presence of low
and high SNR. The enhancements are proven in the extraction of the direct and surface-reflection arrival times as well
as the arrival angle for each path under realistic conditions.
Acknowledgement:
The authors would like to thanks the Instituto Superior the Engenharia of the University of Algarve, for receiving the
first author under an European Union ERASMUS grant when this work was carried. This work is funded by the FCT project
PHITOM [PTDCIEEA-TEU71263/2006].
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