Method and apparatus for determining source location of energy carried in the form of propagating waves through a conducting medium

摘要

A method and apparatus for determining source location for acoustic or other waveform energy in a conducting medium. The method includes simultaneously detecting and transducing the source energy at a plurality of points in the medium into a composite signal representative of the source energy, as sensed at each point. Dispersional modes of propagation of the energy, if more than one, are isolated from each other, preferably by Fourier transform spatially and temporally. Generalized cross correlation is performed on selected isolated modes, resulting in identification of a value from which source location can be located. The apparatus can include an array of spaced apart transducers which are configured to be minimally interfering with source energy propagation through the medium. An multi-channel data acquisition device, including A/D converters for each transducer, captures and digitizes the output of each transducer simultaneously. A digital signal processor operatively associated with the data acquisition device is used to isolate the dispersional modes of the transduced energy and to derive source location with generalized cross correlation techniques.