Underwater Target Azimuth Estimation Based on CS and Random Sonar Array

The problem of underwater target azimuth estimation of linear passive sonar is studied. For the data processing algorithm, considering the fact that the underwater target’s orientation relative to all possible detection directions is sparse, the compressive sensing(CS) technology is adopted to design a method for estimating the underwater target azimuth. As for the structure of linear sonar, according to the mutual incoherence property(MIP) condition in CS theory, a kind of linear sonar array with sparse and randomly distributed elements is constructed. Simulation results show that the designed sonar array, combined with the target azimuth estimation method based on CS, can accurately identify the targets with concentrated spatial orientation in the condition of low signal-to-noise ratio underwater, and the targets with coherent source signal.