3D source location using overlapping multipath propagation

Abstract

Abstract-In passive acoustic monitoring, source localization using multipath propagation can be challenging whenever the source-receiver configuration leads to overlapping multipath arrival patterns. We propose a single-hydrophone model-based method with matched-impulse response (IR) processing that exploits unresolved multipath arrival patterns to locate the source in 3D, making the best use of the bathymetric information as well as the time differences of groups of arrivals. When only groups of paths are resolved, the identity of the paths constituting the groups remains unknown, preventing the use of classical localization methods. To overcome this critical limitation, we apply an approach based on the characterization of groups of paths to estimate the source location.