Long Baseline Acoustic Localization using Rapid Convergence Track-Before-Detect Method Over a Large Sea Area

Conventional long baseline (LBL) acoustic localization algorithms based on time of arrival (TOA) suffer from severe performance degradation at low signal-to-noise ratios due to inaccurate TOA estimated by setting thresholds. In contrast, track-before-detect (TBD) methods operate directly on unthresholded sensor signals for joint detection and tracking. This paper proposes using rapid convergence TBD method to locate targets over a large sea area. Through the signal strength of the received signals, the most suitable combination of buoys is dynamically selected to achieve accurate tracking and positioning of the target. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms traditional LBL localization methods and has excellent localization and tracking performance.