Sound speed estimation from Time Of Arrivals: Derivation and comparison with TDOA-based estimation

In this paper we propose a method for the estimation of the propagation speed of sound waves from Time Of Arrivals (TOAs) observed at a sensor array. In our previous work we presented a speed estimation method based on Time Differences of Arrival (TDOAs), here we show that the same approach may be applied successfully to the TOA-based problem. The exploitation of TOA measurements is driven by applications where synchronization between source and receiver is available. The proposed method provides an estimate of the average propagation speed of the wave along the source-receiver paths. Such a speed estimate is evaluated and compared with the TDOA-based estimate by means of Cramer-Rao Bound analysis and simulations.