Effect of towed array stability on instantaneous localization of marine mammals
von Benda-Beckmann, A.M. (2013). Effect of towed array stability on instantaneous localization of marine mammals. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 134(3): 2409-2417. http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.4816553
In: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. American Institute of Physics: New York. ISSN 0001-4966; e-ISSN 1520-8524, more
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| Author keywords |
acoustic signal processing, acoustic transducer arrays, bioacoustics, biocommunications, hydrophones |
| Abstract |
Reliable localization of marine mammals using towed arrays is often required for mitigation, population density estimates, and bioacoustics research. The accuracy of the range estimates using towed arrays is often not well quantified. Triangulation methods using multiple hydrophones allow for fast range estimates but are sensitive to the species type, location of the animal with respect to the array, sound propagation conditions, and array stability. A simple model is presented that is used to estimate the range accuracy of towed arrays for different vocalizations and is compared to measured range accuracies of sperm whale clicks recorded with a 15?m baseline towed array. The ranging performance is particularly sensitive to hydrophone position errors which are found to dominate. Hydrophone position errors could be estimated using heading sensors placed in the array and are taken into account in the model. A good agreement is found between the empirical range errors and theoretically predicted ones. Extrapolation of the model to other species suggests that species emitting high frequency clicks and calls can be localized from distances out to a few kilometers with a baseline of 15?m, but baleen whales transmitting low frequency calls require longer baselines to obtain range estimates. |
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