Near-field source localisation using a velocity sensor array

This study presents a new algorithm for near-field source localisation by using a uniform linear array consisting of velocity-sensor pairs (VSPs). Two schemes are used for range and direction of arrival (DOA) estimation in the proposed algorithm. The first one exploits the acoustic velocity vector field's two Cartesian components and the triangular location relationship among the near-field sources and the VSPs. The resulting range and DOA estimates are ambiguity-free, regardless of the inter-sensor spacing. Whereas the second scheme uses the so-called electric angles to determine the ranges and DOAs. Although the derived estimates may be ambiguous in the case of the inter-sensor spacing larger than a quarter wavelength, this ambiguity can be removed by using the estimates obtained in the first scheme. Therefore the proposed algorithm can offer high estimation accuracy by increasing inter-sensor spacing (because of array aperture extension). In addition, the proposed algorithm does not require multidimensional search, pairing parameters or high-order statistics, hence, has a low computational complexity.