Multipath Track Association Technique using Characteristics of Conical Bearing in Horizontal Line Array Sonar

This paper conducts a study on methods for associating multipath tracks received by a horizontal line array sonar. The horizontal line array sonar introduces conical bearing ambiguities due to its array-shaped characteristics. Target signals are often subject to multipath propagation in the ocean, resulting in errors in target bearing estimation due to these bearing ambiguities. Recent research efforts have been directed toward using multipath tracks to estimate the positions of targets. However, there has been a lack of research dedicated to identifying multipath tracks from the measurements of a horizontal line array sonar. Therefore, this study identifies the conical bearing characteristics of multipath signals based on the result of experiment and establishes criteria for associating multipath tracks. Additionally, Simulations are performed to determine the ability to associate multipath tracks.