Association of narrow band sources in passive sonar

Abstract

The problem of track to track association in passive sonar with multiple platforms and/or time interruptions is considered. Typical case is a submarine equipped with a hull array (HA) and a towed array (TA). A few methods are applicable and discussed here, coming from detection and estimation theory. Performance of likelihood ratio test are studied for the binary case to associate one track from measurement platform 1 to one another from platform 2. Then it is generalized to two sets of tracks using either a motion representation of the target state (Target Motion Analysis, TMA) or directly the spectrum of frequency lines. Finally, this is also applied to a single antenna like TA where the two "origins" comes from two different time periods e.g. before/after an ownship maneuver Both applications are supported by a theoretic background and at-sea results.