Maximum likelihood estimation of the locations of multiple sources in an acoustic waveguide

The deterministic maximum likelihood (ML) estimator is applied to the problem of estimating the locations of multiple sources in an acoustic waveguide. The structure of the estimator is examined for different noise fields, and the alternating maximization algorithm is proposed as an efficient method for its implementation. Asymptotic expressions for the estimators performance are presented and studied in detail for the special cases of one and two sources. The results of numerical simulations verifying these expressions and comparing the estimator’s favorable performance to that of the minimum variance distortionless response method are presented.