A synthesis of frequency domain filters for time delay estimation

A simple model for two-channel delay estimation filtering is presented. The problem is subdivided into three classes based on initial assumptions. General filters described in the frequency domain are presented as solutions to these specific classes. It is shown that many of these filters, which include the "Wiener" least-squares estimation filter and classical, matched detection filter, can be derived as specific cases of a very general ideal filter form. We call this general ideal filter the weighted distortion balance filter. Relationships between a standard set of ideal filters and some filters previously proposed in the literature for delay estimation are discussed. An illustrative example is presented to compare the delay estimated from the use of various filters.