Acoustic line transect surveys are often used in combination with visual methods to estimate the abundance of marine mammal populations. These surveys typically use towed linear hydrophone arrays and estimate the time differences of arrival (TDOAs) of the signal of interest between the pairs of hydrophones. The signal source TDOAs or bearings are then tracked through time to estimate the animal position, often manually. The process of estimating TDOAs from data and tracking them through time can be especially challenging in the presence of multiple acoustically active sources, missed detections, and clutter (false TDOAs). This study proposes a multi-target tracking method to automate TDOA tracking. The problem formulation is based on the Gaussian mixture probability hypothesis density filter and includes multiple sources, source appearance and disappearance, missed detections, and false alarms. It is shown that by using an extended measurement model and combining measurements from broadband echolocation clicks and narrowband whistles, more information can be extracted from the acoustic encounters. The method is demonstrated on false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens) recordings from Hawaiian waters.
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November 2021
November 05 2021
Tracking time differences of arrivals of multiple sound sources in the presence of clutter and missed detectionsa)
Special Collection:
Machine Learning in Acoustics
Pina Gruden;
Pina Gruden
b)
1
Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, Research Corporation of the University of Hawai‘i
, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA
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Eva-Marie Nosal;
Eva-Marie Nosal
2
Ocean and Resources Engineering, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA
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Erin Oleson
Erin Oleson
3
Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
, Honolulu, Hawaii 96818, USA
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b)
Electronic mail: pgruden@hawaii.edu
a)
This paper is part of a special issue on Machine Learning in Acoustics.
J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 150, 3399–3416 (2021)
Article history
Received:
January 27 2021
Accepted:
August 19 2021
Citation
Pina Gruden, Eva-Marie Nosal, Erin Oleson; Tracking time differences of arrivals of multiple sound sources in the presence of clutter and missed detections. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 1 November 2021; 150 (5): 3399–3416. https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0006780
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