Acoustic reconstruction of the geometry of an environment through acquisition of a controlled emission

This paper presents a novel solution for the reconstruction of an environment from the acquisition of a controlled emission, in particular for what concerns the estimation of the position of acoustic reflectors. The solution proposed in this paper makes use of a loudspeaker rotating on a circular pattern and emitting a controlled noise and a microphone located at the center of the circle. A likelihood map is built by means of a template matching between the signal acquired at the microphone and a template signal obtained by simulating the propagation of the signal to all the potential obstacles locations. The position of the reflectors is inferred by the analysis of the likelihood map. Simulations assess the best working conditions for the device in terms of test signal duration, radius of the circular trajectory and Signal to Noise Ratio. A simulation has been carried out also in the presence of multiple and interacting reflectors to show the feasibility of the approach also in more complex scenarios.