Modal Array Signal Processing: Principles and Applications of Acoustic Wavefield Decomposition

Many applications of acoustic signal processing, such as teleconferencing and surveillance systems, require an estimate of several parameters present in the observed acoustic wavefield. The most important parameters are the number as well as the location of active acoustic sources. This book deals with the problem of detecting and localizing multiple simultaneously active wideband acoustic sources by applying the notion of wavefield decomposition using circular and spherical microphone arrays. The decomposed wavefield representation is used to serve as a basis for so-called modal array signal processing algorithms, which have the significant advantage over classical array signal processing algorithms that they inherently support multiple wideband acoustic sources. A rigorous derivation of modal array signal processing algorithms for unambiguous source detection and localization as well as performance evaluations by means of measurements using an actual real-time capable implementation are discussed.