Spectrally correlated sound source detection in a noisy environment using TFD-ACF mask

This paper investigates the use of new features based on autocorrelation-function (ACF) for spectrally correlated sound source detection (SCSSD), such as a helicopter, in time-frequency domain (TFD). Main and tail rotors of a helicopter are simultaneously turning by a single engine. Rotating speed of both rotors (and therefore rotor noises) are correlated which leads to correlated frequency components in TFD. The ACF matrix of spectrally correlated sound sources in a noisy environment is sparse and unique and can be used to detect such sources using time-frequency domain autocorrelation function matrix (TFD-ACF mask). Simulation results for detection of different simulated maneuvers of a helicopter sound in presence of different environmental background noises confirm the efficiency of our proposed approach in comparison with previous detection methods.