Experimental observation of direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation algorithms in a tank environment for sonar application

This paper focuses on the performance of Multiple Signal Classification (MUSIC) and Estimation of Signal Parameters by Rotational Invariance techniques (ESPRIT) algorithm in real-time, for detection of underwater object by active sonar system of frequency 12 kHz. Experiment is conducted in Acoustic tank facility (ATF) at National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT). A table with dimension of 0.5mx0.5m is submerged in the tank at a depth of 3.6m from the water surface. A tow body with acoustic transmitter and hydrophone array is used to transmit and receive the acoustic signal in tank. The DOA estimation gives the exact location of the table in the tank. It is observed that the location of the submerged table computed by MUSIC & ESPRIT is comparable with a bias of about 1 degree.