Title: High-resolution azimuth estimation algorithm based on data fusion method for the vector hydrophone vertical array 

Author: CHEN Yu； MENG Zhou； MA Shuqing； BAO Changchun； 

Affiliation: College of Optoelectric Science and Engineering,National Univ.of Denfense Technology；  

Abstract: To aim at the problem that the horizontal directivity index of the vector hydrophone vertical array is not higher than that of a vector hydrophone,the high-resolution azimuth estimation algorithm based on the data fusion method was presented.The proposed algorithm first employs MUSIC algorithm to estimate the azimuth of each divided sub-band signal,and then the estimated azimuths of multiple hydrophones are processed by using the data fusion technique.The high-resolution estimated result is achieved finally by adopting the weighted histogram statistics method.The results of the simulation and sea trials indicated that the proposed algorithm has better azimuth estimation performance than MUSIC algorithm of a single vector hydrophone and the data fusion technique based on the acoustic energy flux method.The better performance is reflected in the aspects of the estimation precision,the probability of correct estimation,the capability to distinguish multi-objects and the inhibition of the noise sub-bands.