Sound source localization using Phased Array System Toolbox

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I want to use a microphone array to localize sound sources, i.e. find the directions (and possibly distances) of sound sources from the array. I have examined the Direction of Arrival (DoA) finding tools in the Phased Array System Toolbox, but I am not sure if I could use these for my application. All these tools assume that the signal arriving at the array is narrowband, i.e. a single carrier frequency with some modulation. However, the sounds I am interested in are wideband, like most sounds.
Could I sub-divide my wideband sounds into a set of narrowband components (e.g. using a filter bank), and then apply the narrowband DoA tools to each sub-band separately? How could I then combine the multiple sub-band DoA's to best estimate the overall DoA? Is this approach valid, or are the narrowband DoA tools simply not applicable to sound signals?
Any help is much appreciated.
  4 Comments
Harwanto Zidqi Putro
Harwanto Zidqi Putro on 29 Aug 2020
Amjad Iqbal : helo, i have data from 5 mic array, but its in analog read (voltage) not in sound. How to proccess this data before we can use in TDOA algorithm?
Bitragunta Venkata sasikumar
Bitragunta Venkata sasikumar on 12 Mar 2024 at 16:47
i need the code for localization of the under water devices using the hydrophone data by array of beam forming

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Accepted Answer

Honglei Chen
Honglei Chen on 13 Nov 2014
Most DOA estimator shipped in Phased Array System Toolbox is indeed narrow band so they are probably not the best tool for wideband audio signals.
However, you could consider using a wideband beamformer to scan the space and look for the direction where you get the maximum peak. There are several wideband beamformers available in Phased Array System Toolbox. The phased.SubbbandPhaseShiftBeamformer uses the subband approach you described in your post. You can also use phased.TimeDelayBeamformer to perform time domain beamforming which does not assume whether the signal is narrowband or wideband.
Does this address your concern? Please let me know if you need any further clarification.
  1 Comment
James Rex
James Rex on 13 Nov 2014
Thanks for this info. I can see how a beamformer could be tried with various beam directions, and the direction that gives the highest output amplitude could be assumed to be the source direction. However, I imagine this approach needs a lot of computation to get an accurate source direction, since a large number of directions need to be tried. But I may adopt this approach for my initial tests.

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