Bearing and range estimation of buried cylindrical shell in presence of sensor phase errors

Localization of buried cylindrical shells in presence of sensor phase errors is presented. This method is based on a new technique [5] that we have developed for buried object localization using a combination of acoustical model, focusing operator and the MUSIC method. The main assumption in [5] is the well known of the sensor positions that are not always satisfied. Thus, in practice the sensors move from their original positions during the experimentation (deformed sensor array) which introduce phase error in each sensor. Correction of phase errors is necessary to solve the object localization problem. The method provides estimation of the bearings and ranges of all buried objects as well as the phase error of each sensor in the observing array. This problem is reduced to minimization problem function using the DIRECT algorithm (DIviding RECTangles) to seek the minimum of this function. Finally, the performances of the proposed method are validated on experimental data recorded during an underwater acoustics experiments.