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Minimising the number of microphones required for characterisation of distributed source regions

Minimising the number of microphones required for characterisation of distributed source regions
Minimising the number of microphones required for characterisation of distributed source regions

The use of arrays of microphones to locate and characterise acoustic sources is becoming more commonplace. Beamforming algorithms are applied to the microphone outputs to focus the array at a point, or to scan an area or volume for sources. The number and position of the microphones in a beamforming array are determined only by the frequency range of interest and the required spatial resolution. However, these beamforming algorithms cannot yield realistic estimates of source strength when more than one source is present within the 'beam' of the array. If realistic estimates of source strength distribution are required, more advanced signal processing algorithms, such as the inverse method, are required. In these cases, it is accepted wisdom that the number of microphones must equal or exceed the number of sources present. For many potential applications of these inverse methods, the size and complexity of the source regions of interest can lead to the requirement for prohibitively large numbers of microphones. It is the purpose of this paper to demonstrate how, through reformulation of the inverse method, the requirements for the minimum number of microphones can be relaxed when certain assumptions can be made concerning the correlation structure of the source region.

5325-5332
Curran Associates Inc.
Holland, Keith R.
90dd842b-e3c8-45bb-865e-3e7da77ec703
Nelson, Philip A.
5c6f5cc9-ea52-4fe2-9edf-05d696b0c1a9
Holland, Keith R.
90dd842b-e3c8-45bb-865e-3e7da77ec703
Nelson, Philip A.
5c6f5cc9-ea52-4fe2-9edf-05d696b0c1a9

Holland, Keith R. and Nelson, Philip A. (2006) Minimising the number of microphones required for characterisation of distributed source regions. In 13th International Congress on Sound and Vibration 2006, ICSV 2006. vol. 7, Curran Associates Inc. pp. 5325-5332 .

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

The use of arrays of microphones to locate and characterise acoustic sources is becoming more commonplace. Beamforming algorithms are applied to the microphone outputs to focus the array at a point, or to scan an area or volume for sources. The number and position of the microphones in a beamforming array are determined only by the frequency range of interest and the required spatial resolution. However, these beamforming algorithms cannot yield realistic estimates of source strength when more than one source is present within the 'beam' of the array. If realistic estimates of source strength distribution are required, more advanced signal processing algorithms, such as the inverse method, are required. In these cases, it is accepted wisdom that the number of microphones must equal or exceed the number of sources present. For many potential applications of these inverse methods, the size and complexity of the source regions of interest can lead to the requirement for prohibitively large numbers of microphones. It is the purpose of this paper to demonstrate how, through reformulation of the inverse method, the requirements for the minimum number of microphones can be relaxed when certain assumptions can be made concerning the correlation structure of the source region.

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More information

Published date: 6 July 2006
Venue - Dates: 13th International Congress on Sound and Vibration 2006, , Vienna, Austria, 2006-07-02 - 2006-07-06

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 468714
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/468714
PURE UUID: f6d8572e-4f44-4583-bc9f-10683b1baa93
ORCID for Keith R. Holland: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-7439-2375
ORCID for Philip A. Nelson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-9563-3235

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Date deposited: 23 Aug 2022 16:56
Last modified: 23 Feb 2023 02:31

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Contributors

Author: Keith R. Holland ORCID iD

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