频域单快拍压缩感知目标方位估计和信号恢复方法

方位估计和信号恢复分别是水下目标定位、跟踪和目标识别的前提。提出了一种阵列频域单快拍压缩感知的水下目标方位估计和信号恢复方法。首先将阵列接收数据变换到频域,取频域单快拍数据作为压缩感知的测量值,然后根据频域快拍对应的频率、搜索方位和阵列流形构造过完备的阵列流形矩阵作为压缩感知的感知矩阵,最后通过基追踪算法估计搜索方位上目标信号和功率,实现DOA估计与信号恢复。宽带仿真实验数据验证结果表明,同等条件下完成同样的目标方位分辨,提出的方法比最小方差无失真响应方法要求的阵元数和快拍数较少,要求的信噪比更低,恢复的目标信号更加准确,波形相关系数达到89%以上。海上实验数据处理结果表明,目标检测能力优于最小方差无失真响应方法,证明该方法可以适用于实际声呐系统。      

交叉验证多路径匹配追踪水声矢量阵稀疏方位估计

水下运动目标的高分辨DOA估计和目标的左右舷分辨问题一直是水声阵列信号处理中的一个核心问题。矢量阵相比于声压阵具有天然的左右舷分辨能力和更高的处理增益,近年来得到了广泛关注。Capon等一些传统高分辨处理方法存在不能解相干源、需要多快拍处理以及对阵列流行误差敏感等多种问题。针对水声阵列信号处理领域面临的以上问题,利用声呐工作场景中空间目标的稀疏性,本文提出了一种基于交叉验证技术的多路径匹配追踪（Multiplepath Matching Pursuit with Cross Validation,CV-MMP）声矢量阵稀疏DOA估计算法。该算法采用交叉验证技术可以在未知场景中目标个数的条件下实现稀疏DOA的估计,相比于常规的声矢量阵Capon算法而言,可以在小快拍数甚至单快拍数条件下实现多目标的稀疏DOA估计以及高分辨能力。仿真和海试试验数据处理验证了提出的算法的有效性。      

拖线阵机动时的自适应波束形成

提出了一种MVDR(最小方差无失真响应)的改进算法,用以解决常规MVDR算法由于阵形时变而出现的性能下降问题。在获得时变阵形估计数据的基础上,该算法以统计时段内的平均阵形为基准阵形,在每个扫描方向上根据实际阵形和基准阵形的差异对阵列互谱矩阵多样本进行相位补偿,从而实现统计时段内的互谱矩阵多样本相干累加和目标检测。数值仿真与海上实验数据处理结果表明:与传统MVDR算法相比,改进算法有效缓解了时变阵形下的目标测向角度模糊问题,可提高拖线阵目标左右舷分辨性能、增强弱目标检测能力。      

一种深度学习的立体阵波达方向估计方法

针对常规波束形成主瓣宽且目标分辨能力低的问题,提出一种基于深度卷积神经网络的波达方向估计方法。算法使用常规波束形成计算二维空间功率谱,将预处理后的空间功率谱图输入深度卷积神经网络。该文利用神经网络学习解卷积映射关系,输出主瓣宽度更窄的空间功率谱图,从而实现高分辨率二维波达方向估计。该算法对阵列结构没有限制,适用于立体阵。仿真结果表明该文方法在不同目标个数、快拍数及信噪比参数下均能准确估计目标方向。该文方法目标分辨能力优于常规波束形成方法。在低快拍情况下,目标方向估计误差低于自适应波束形成方法。     

小快拍高分辨目标方位估计算法 GMUSIC的性能分析*

针对水下运动阵列在运动过程中进行方位估计时存在快拍不足的问题,研究了基于随机矩阵理论的MUSIC改进算法GMUSIC,该方法通过Stieltjes变换建立起统计协方差矩阵真实特征值、特征向量与样本协方差矩阵之间在逼近域中的关联,以修正样本协方差特征分解的结果,进而实现小快拍方位估计。仿真与试验表明:GMUSIC算法可以更好地分辨相邻目标,且需要的快拍数较MUSIC算法要少;在低信噪比情况下,GMUSIC算法方位估计均方根误差远小于MUSIC算法,估计成功概率远大于MUSIC算法。因此,GMUSIC算法适用于解决水声目标的小快拍方位估计问题。     

矢量水听器阵列MVDR波束形成器的性能研究

针对矢量水听器阵列的最佳阵处理，研究了高斯背景噪声条件下MVDR波束器的输出性能，给出了系统输出信干噪比与各影响参数之间的解析关系式，并对三种典型情况进行了具体探讨，着重分析了信噪比、干扰强度、相关系数和样本长度对系统输出SINR的影响，证明了低信噪比时MVDR波束形成器为最佳空域滤波器，分析还表明，MVDR波束形成器对强信号存在抑制现象，高信噪比时输出的SINR为一常数。计算机仿真结果证明了理论分析的正确性。     

基于任意阵的最小方差无失真响应聚焦波束形成的被动定位方法

将最小方差无失真响应(MVDR)聚焦波束形成近场被动定位方法应用到平面任意结构阵列上,可以很好地解决线列阵由于阵长较长,在实际使用中存在布放困难、部分阵元失效影响定位性能等问题。本文首先分析了平面任意结构阵列的近场接收信号模型,推导出阵列流型,然后将MVDR聚焦波束形成技术应用到该模型中,得到了基于任意阵的MVDR聚焦波束形成近场被动定位方法。仿真验证了该方法的可行性和有效性。     

虚拟阵列Khatri-Rao积与子空间联合稀疏表示的DOA估计方法

利用目标信号在空域分布的稀疏性,该文提出了一种基于虚拟阵列Khatri-Rao(KR)积与信号子空间联合稀疏表示的单快拍DOA估计方法;该方法利用单次快拍的采样数据,构造出双向虚拟阵列数据,并对虚拟阵列数据的协方差矩阵进行KR积变换处理,然后对向量化后的数据进行顺序重构,利用重构矩阵的大奇异值对应的左奇异向量为估计信号子空间;最后,利用凸优化工具箱对稀疏模型进行二阶凸规划的优化求解,得到高精度的DOA估计值;仿真实验验证了算法的有效性,在低信噪比下比传统MUSIC和OMP算法具有更高的估计精度。     

基于宽带分裂阵列的水下远程被动多目标检测与定向

为获取更高的水下远程多目标检测和定向性能,基于工程中广泛应用的最小方差无畸变响应(MVDR)波束形成算法,设计了大间隔分裂线列阵,通过扩大阵列有效孔径改善了空间谱峰锐度。同时提出非相干宽带预处理方法,利用MVDR在多频子带下波束宽度和间隔的非一致性来抵消由于稀布阵元造成的栅瓣效应。最终实现大间隔分裂阵和宽带非相干波束形成的互补。仿真和湖上试验结果表明,与采用宽带MVDR的均匀线列阵和采用互相关法的大间隔分裂阵相比较,所提方法能显著提高对水下远程目标的检测和分辨性能。      

圆弧形面阵自适应波束形成快速计算方法

针对圆弧形面阵估计水下目标二维波达方向的问题,提出一种降维处理的自适应波束形成方法。利用圆弧形面阵模型简化阵列内插矩阵的计算,通过垂直和水平两阶段波束加权,降低自适应波束形成维数,从而实现快速估计声源二维波达方向的目的。仿真结果表明,所提改进方法的计算量较传统二维最小方差无失真波束形成方法降低约一个数量级,且在低快拍条件下具有更明显的噪声抑制优势。湖上实验数据处理结果验证,在复杂水声环境下,所提方法具有较好的目标分辨性能。      

单基地多输入多输出声呐的方位分辨力

为了研究波形分集和发射子阵对多输入多输出(multiple-input multiple-output:MIMO)声呐方位分辨力的影响,建立了同时适用于MIMO声呐和传统有源声呐的远场和近场波束图推导模型,证明了这两种声呐具有相同的方位分辨力。首先,将MIMO声呐发射阵划分为子阵无重合与子阵有重合两种情况,并对传统有源声呐的发射阵也进行相同的划分。据此,推导出两者的远场和近场阵列流型向量均可表示为发射与接收阵列流型向量的直积。接着,利用阵列流型向量的一致性证明了波束图(远场和近场)的一致性。进一步地,证明了发射子阵有重合的情况等效于对发射阵列进行幅度加权(发射阵列中间部分的阵元权值大于两端部分的阵元权值),其可获得更低的波束图旁瓣级但不能提高方位分辨力。理论分析与仿真结果表明:MIMO声呐的有效孔径等于发射与接收联合孔径,其方位分辨力由发射与接收阵列结构所决定,波形分集和发射子阵并未带来更高的方位分辨力。      

A method of improving overall resolution in ultrasonic array imaging using spatio-temporal deconvolution

In this paper a beamforming method for ultrasonic array imaging is presented that performs both spatial and temporal deconvolution based on a minimum mean square error (MMSE) criteria. The presented MMSE receive mode beamformer performs a regularized inversion of the propagation operator for the ultrasonic array system at hand. The MMSE beamformer accounts for the transmit and receive processes, defined in terms of finite array element sizes, transmit focusing laws and electrical transducer characteristics. The MMSE beamformer is compared to the traditional delay-and-sum (DAS) beamformer with respect to both resolution and signal-to-noise ratio. The two algorithms are compared using both simulated and measured data. The simulated data was obtained using ultrasonic field simulations and the measured data was acquired using a linear phased array imaging wire targets in water. The results show that the MMSE beamformer has superior temporal and lateral resolution compared to DAS. It is also shown that the MMSE beamformer can be expressed as a filter bank, which enables parallel processing at high frame rates.     

Adaptive beamforming for nonstationary arrays

Adaptive beamformers automatically adjust to the input data on the sensors in an attempt to maximize the bearing resolution of a signal and minimize the effects of noise or interfering signals. To the author's knowledge, all adaptive beamformers currently available in the literature assume that the sensors are stationary over the time required to collect the data. This assumption is invalid on arrays of sensors mounted on nonstationary platforms, and results in poor beamforming performance. In this paper we present an adaptive beamformer that has been designed to operate on nonstationary arrays. The beamformer directly incorporates any changes in array shape or heading that may occur during the time required to collect the data. The output of the adaptive beamformer is shown for both synthetic data and for real data collected on a towed array. Results show that signal detection, bearing accuracy, bearing resolution, and interference suppression all increase when the array shape and track are incorporated into the beamformer if the sensor platform is not stationary.     

有源声呐距离维波束形成方法

针对脉冲压缩处理所获得的距离分辨率和干扰抑制能力不足的问题,提出了有源声呐距离维波束形成方法。该方法从单个脉冲回波的频域输出中提取多组子带分量,每个子带分量的中心频率形成等差数列,对应的相移形成复指数等比数列(可类比于均匀直线阵的阵列流形向量)。根据这一特点,使用多组子带分量构建协方差矩阵,根据中心频率设计距离维加权向量,建立了距离维波束形成模型。给出了距离维常规波束形成和距离维自适应波束形成的表达式、处理流程,对距离分辨率和干扰抑制能力进行了分析。利用数值仿真和水池实验证明,距离维常规波束形成可获得与脉冲压缩处理类似的距离分辨率,而距离维自适应波束形成可获得更高的距离分辨率和更优的距离维干扰抑制能力。      

用于裂纹方向识别的超声散射系数分析方法研究

本文主要利用超声相控阵技术进行了裂纹方向识别研究。首先,对线性超声相控阵探头采集的全矩阵数据进行了全聚焦成像,确定缺陷的位置。然后将线性阵列划分为若干子阵列,研究了缺陷位置处子阵列的散射系数分布,从中提取出缺陷的方向信息。在此基础上,研究了子阵列参数选择(子阵列包含晶片数及相邻子阵列间隔晶片数)及探头位置对裂纹方向识别的影响。通过对散射系数分布图中提取的3个特征指标,角度测量误差、角度分辨率及相对脊带宽度,进行主成分分析,评价了子阵列参数设置(如子阵列包含晶片数及相邻子阵列间隔晶片数)对裂纹方向识别的影响,优化出最佳的检测位置及子阵列参数设置。仿真和检测实验结果表明,当相邻子阵列间隔晶片数为1,包含晶片数为11个时,可以利用超声散射系数分布进行裂纹方向的准确测量,测量误差小于2%。      

Nearfield broadband array design using a radially invariant modal expansion

This paper introduces an efficient parameterization for the nearfield broadband beamforming problem with a single parameter to focus the beamformer to a desired operating radius and another set of parameters to control the actual broadband beampattern shape. The parameterization is based on an orthogonal basis set of elementary beampatterns by which an arbitrary beampattern can be constructed. A set of elementary beamformers are then designed for each elementary beampattern and the desired beamformer is constructed by summing the elementary beamformers with frequency and source-array distance dependent weights. An important consequence of our result is that the beamformer can be factored into three levels of filtering: (i) beampattern independent elementary beamformers; (ii) beampattern shape dependent filters; and (iii) radial focusing filters where a single parameter can be adjusted to focus the array to a desired radial distance from the array origin. As an illustration the method is applied to the problem of producing a practical array design that achieves a frequency invariant beampattern over the frequency range of 1:10 (which is suitable for speech acquisition using a microphone array), and with the array focused either to farfield or nearfield where at the lowest frequency the radial distance to the source is only three wavelengths.     

Array gain for a conformal acoustic vector sensor array:An experimental study

An acoustic vector sensor can measure the components of particle velocity and the acoustic pressure at the same point simultaneously, which provides a larger array gain against the ambient noise and a higher angular resolution than the omnidirectional pressure sensor. This paper presents an experimental study of array gain for a conformal acoustic vector sensor array in a practical environment. First, the manifold vector is calculated using the real measured data so that the effects of array mismatches can be minimized. Second, an optimal beamformer with a specific spatial response on the basis of the stable directivity of the ambient noise is designed, which can effectively suppress the ambient noise.Experimental results show that this beamformer for the conformal acoustic vector sensor array provides good signal-tonoise ratio enhancement and is more advantageous than the delay-and-sum and minimum variance distortionless response beamformers.     

Active control of passive acoustic fields: passive synthetic aperture/Doppler beamforming with data from an autonomous vehicle

The maneuverability of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) equipped with hull-mounted arrays provides the opportunity to actively modify received acoustic fields to optimize extraction of information. This paper uses ocean acoustic data collected by an AUV-mounted two-dimensional hydrophone array, with overall dimension one-tenth wavelength at 200-500 Hz, to demonstrate aspects of this control through vehicle motion. Source localization is performed using Doppler shifts measured at a set of receiver velocities by both single elements and a physical array. Results show that a source in the presence of a 10-dB higher-level interferer having exactly the same frequency content (as measured by a stationary receiver) is properly localized and that white-noise-constrained adaptive beamforming applied to the physical aperture data in combination with Doppler beamforming provides greater spatial resolution than physical-aperture-alone beamforming and significantly lower sidelobes than single element Doppler beamforming. A new broadband beamformer that adjusts for variations in vehicle velocity on a sample by sample basis is demonstrated with data collected during a high-acceleration maneuver. The importance of including the cost of energy expenditure in determining optimal vehicle motion is demonstrated through simulation, further illustrating how the vehicle characteristics are an integral part of the signal/array processing structure.     

Broadband optimal contrast resolution beamforming

This paper proposes a novel receive beamformer architecture for broadband imaging systems that uses unique finite impulse response (FIR) filters on each channel. The conventional delay-and-sum (DAS) beamformer applies receive apodization by weighting the signal on each receive channel prior to beam summation. Our proposed FIR beamformer passes the focused receive radio frequency (RF) signals through multi-tap FIR filters on each receive channel prior to summation. The receive FIR filters are constructed to maximize the contrast resolution of the system’s spatial response. The broadband FIR beamformer produces spatial point spread functions (PSFs) with narrower mainlobe widths and lower sidelobe levels than spatial PSFs produced by the conventional DAS beamformer.We present simulation results showing that FIR filters of modest tap lengths (3-7) can yield marked improvement in image contrast and point resolution. Specifically we show that 7-tap FIR filters can reduce sidelobe and grating lobe energy by 30 dB and improve contrast resolution by as much as 20 dB compared to conventional apodization profiles. This improvement in contrast resolution comes at the expense of a decrease in beamformer sensitivity. We investigate the effects of phase aberration and show in simulation results that the multi-tap FIR beamformer outperforms the unaberrated DAS beamformer by 8-12 dB even in the presence of moderate aberration characterized by a root-mean-square strength of 28 ns and a full-width at half-maximum correlation length of 3.6 mm. We show experimental results wherein multi-tap FIR filters decrease sidelobe energy in the resulting 2D spatial response while achieving a narrow mainlobe. We also show results where the FIR beamformer improves the contrast to noise ratio (CNR) in simulated B-mode cyst images by more than 4 dB. Our algorithm has the potential to significantly improve ultrasound beamforming in any application where the system response is reasonably well characterized. Furthermore, this algorithm can be used to increase contrast and resolution in one-way beamforming systems such as acousto-optic and opto-acoustic imaging.     

A numerical optimization approach to acoustic hull array design

A numerical optimization approach is presented to optimize passive broadband detection performance of hull arrays through the adjustment of array shading weights. The approach is developed for general hull arrays in low signal-to-noise ratio scenarios, and is shown to converge rapidly to optimal solutions that maximize the array's deflection coefficient. The beamformer is not redesigned in this approach; only the shading weights of the conventional beamformer are adjusted. This approach allows array designers to use the array to minimize the impact of known sources of noise on detection at the beamformer output while maintaining acoustic array gain against an unknown source. The technique is illustrated through numerical examples using hull-borne structural noise as the noise source; however, the design concept can be applied to other design parameters of the array such as element position, material selection, etc.