Single hydrophone passive acoustic sperm whale range and depth estimation

Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) emit acoustic signals when diving to search for food. Because they dive to depths of over 1500 m, conventional localization methods are impractical. Sperm whales produce a series of loud impulsive echolocation sounds called `clicks´ at a fairly constant rate, and these signals can be used for localization. A geometric approach is considered using signals from the direct and surface reflection paths. The time difference of arrival (TDOA) between these paths is used for localization. Real sperm whale data from the Atlantic Undersea Test Center (AUTC) is used to evaluate the proposed method.