GHOST target suppression for distributed multi-array localization using temporal and spatial correlations

We propose a ghost target suppression method for distributed multi-array localization. Triangulation, included in bearings-only target localization method for the well-separated array, is highly dependent on bearing measurements. Its performance is degraded by ghost targets from the ambiguity of bearing measurements. The proposed method is based on the assumption that received signals from the same target have similar frequency components within short-term time and at different locations. We utilize the consistency of acoustic signals in Frequency-Azimuth plots by measuring the frequency component similarities of the target signal over time at a single array (temporal information) and across different arrays (spatial information). The ghost target suppression is evaluated using in situ data from Swellex-96 S5 Event and results reveal the target track along time with much less ghost targets. [Work supported by Korea Research Institute for defense Technology planning and advancement(KRIT)—Grant funded by the Korea government(DAPA(Defense Acquisition Program Administration))(No. KRIT-CT-23-026, Integrated Underwater Surveillance Research Center for Adapting Future Technologies, 2024).]