Localization of a maneuvering target using simulated annealing

A two‐stage algorithm is described for passively localizing a maneuvering target with a towed array sonar. The first stage of the algorithm uses simulated annealing to obtain an initial estimate of the target track; the second stage applies a modified Newton’s method to this initial estimate in order to find the final track estimate. It is shown, using simulated examples, that a maneuvering target with a low signal‐to‐noise ratio can be successfully localized by this technique.