Closed-Form Underwater Acoustic Direction-Finding with Arbitrarily Spaced Vector Hydrophones at Unknown Locations

This paper introduces a novel ESPRIT-based closedform source localization algorithm applicable to arbitrarily spaced three-dimensional arrays of vector hydrophones, whose locations need not be known. Each vector hydrophone consists of two or three identical but orthogonally oriented velocity hydrophones plus one pressure hydrophone, all spatially co-located in a point-like geometry. A velocity hydrophone measures one Cartesian component of the incident sonar wavefield’s velocity vector, whereas a pressure hydrophone measures the acoustic wavefield’s pressure. Velocity-hydrophone technology is well established in underwater acoustics and a great variety of commercial models have long been available. ESPRIT is realized herein by exploiting the nonspatial interrelations among each vector hydrophone’s constituent hydrophones, such that ESPRIT’s eigenvalues become independent of array geometry. Simulation results verify the efficacy and versatility of this innovative scheme. Aspects of this underwater acoustic algorithm are analogous to Li’s earlier work with diversely polarized antennas.