Underwater target passive acoustic localization method based on Hanbury Brown–Twiss interference

Purpose Acoustic signals of the underwater targets are susceptible to noise, reverberation, submarine topography and biology, therefore it is difficult to precisely locate underwater targets. This paper proposes a new underwater Hanbury Brown-Twiss (HBT) interference passive localization method. This study aims to achieve precise location of the underwater acoustic targets. Design/methodology/approach The principle of HBT interference with ultrasensitive detection characteristics in optical measurements was introduced in the field of hydroacoustics. The coherence of the underwater target signal was analyzed using the HBT interference measurement principle, and the corresponding relationship between the signal coherence and target position was obtained. Consequently, an HBT interference localization model was established, and its validity was verified through simulations and experiments. Findings The effects of different array structures on the localization performance were obtained by simulation analysis, and the simulations confirmed that the HBT method exhibited a higher positioning accuracy than conventional beamforming. In addition, the experimental analysis demonstrated the excellent positioning performance of the HBT method, which verified the feasibility of the proposed method. Originality/value This study provides a new method for the passive localization of underwater targets, which may be widely used in the field of oceanic explorations.