Acoustic source localization in an anisotropic plate without knowing its material properties – A new approach

Acoustic source localization (ASL) in a highly anisotropic plate is a challenging task. The basic assumption in many of the currently available techniques is that the wave propagates along a straight line from the source to the receiving sensor. However, waves in anisotropic solids propagate along curved lines and form non-circular wave fronts. As a result, for a highly anisotropic solid the acoustic source localization techniques that assume straight line propagation of waves from the source to the receiver are bound to produce a significant error. In this paper a new technique is introduced for acoustic source localization in an anisotropic plate by dealing with non-circular shape of wave fronts. Direction vectors of the wave fronts are computed from the Time-Difference-Of-Arrivals (TDOA) at three sensors placed in a cluster, then they are cast into a geometric vector analysis or an optimization process to accurately obtain the acoustic source location. Two common wave front shapes in highly anisotropic plates, rhombus and ellipse, are analyzed. Following this analysis, the acoustic source could be successfully localized without knowing the material properties of the plate.