Signal detectors for arrays with randomly perturbed sensor locations

A general passive signal detector is proposed for hydrophone arrays in which the position of each sensor is randomly perturbed. The proposed configuration permits division of the array into arbitrary partitions with power measurement on each partition. Linear filters in the processor are optimized using the deflection criterion as the performance measure. Using the same measure, performance of the optimal filters is compared with that of more practical sub-optimal choices for a large planar array. The study confirms existence of practical processors which are superior to the standard detector in this application.