Azimuth angle estimation based on joint processing of acoustic pressure and analytic velocity

In this paper, an improved joint processing algorithm based on Estimation of Signal Parameters via Rotational Invariance Technique (ESPRIT), which can efficiently combine acoustic pressure and analytic velocity, is proposed to estimate azimuth angle. This method can be applied in acoustic vector sensor array (AVSA) of any formation. A novel cross-covariance matrix of acoustic pressure and analytic velocity is constructed and the ESPRIT algorithm based on total-least-squares (TLS) criterion is used to determine the azimuth angle of incident signals in a background noise. By using the coherency between acoustic pressure and particle velocity, this algorithm could suppress interference well in isotropic noise field. Simulations show that the proposed algorithm is more efficient than existing algorithms especially in low-SNR environment.