Target motion analysis via efficient acoustic matched processing

In recent years matched processing techniques have emerged as a solution for the problem of target motion analysis. A target´s motion parameters are estimated by determining which of a bank of replica signals best correlates with the signal received from that target. However matched processing is notoriously computationally demanding, requiring evaluation of complex equations for replica generation, and batch processing via an exhaustive search of a multidimensional parameter space. This study presents a matched processing method for localisation of a moving acoustic source by matching Fourier coefficients from a single frequency bin. A simple range-dependent propagation model is assumed, and the Doppler effect is carefully modelled to produce realistic replicas. An efficient matching algorithm is presented which computes cost values in a recursive fashion, and does not fully evaluate poorly scoring replicas. A simulated example demonstrates the ability of the technique at extremely low SNR with a fraction of the cost associated with exhaustive search batch processing.