Vector sensor array sensitivity, mismatch and performance in ocean noise

Andrew Poulsen

The practical implementation of any sensing platform is susceptible to imperfections. This "mismatch" or difference between the assumed and actual sensor configuration can significantly impact system performance.
Mismatch can have several contributing factors: imperfections in the manufacturing of system components, and incomplete or erroneous knowledge of the physical environment or system configuration. All arrays are susceptible to perturbations in array element locations, however vector sensor arrays are also sensitive to changes in sensor orientation. This is due to the fact that the particle motion measurement of the vector sensor must be placed in a global reference frame. This talk will present a performance analysis of vector sensor arrays with perturbations in filter phase/magnitude and element position/orientation using a Gaussian perturbation model. The effect on array gain will be analyzed using common ocean noise models. Theoretical expressions are derived for array data covariance matrices under these noise models. Similarly, the effect of
mismatch on the beampattern is analyzed, including expressions for the mean and variance of the vector sensor array spatial response.