Evaluation of a wideband direction estimation algorithm for acoustic arrays

In this work we experimentally evaluate the performance of an acoustic target detection and direction estimation algorithm. The algorithm was developed by Nawab et. al. [1] for small microphone arrays. The accuracy of azimuth estimates for a single source and the ability to handle multiple sources was examined. Single source accuracy was measured as a function of input SNR and source types. The azimuth separartion required to resolve two sources and the maximum number of widely spread (in azimuth space) sources that can be resolved were measured as a function of input SNR. The usefulness of an output quality measure was experimentally tested.