Ray-based blind deconvolution of shipping sources using single-snapshot adaptive beamforming

Abstract

The original ray-based blind deconvolution (RBD) algorithm estimates the phase of a source of opportunity—e.g., a shipping vessel—using conventional wideband beamforming (CWBF) along a well-resolved ray-path to estimate the channel impulse response (CIR). However, for the case of an anisotropic radiator and when using a short-aperture receiving array, CWBF is unable to accurately beamform on weak multipath arrivals. Instead, a higher-resolution RBD algorithm based on single snapshot adaptive beamforming is introduced by using space-frequency smoothing of the array covariance matrix; and its performance is demonstrated using experimental recordings of a container vessel to estimate the bottom-bounce arrival of the CIR.