Method and apparatus for acoustic area monitoring by exploiting ultra large scale arrays of microphones
First Claim
1. A method for creating an acoustic map of an environment having at least one acoustic source, comprising:
- surrounding the environment with an array of microphones that contains 1000 or more microphones in the array;
a processor determining a plurality of disjoint spatial masks associated with the array of microphones covering the environment, each mask defining a different pass region for a signal and a plurality of complementary rejection regions, wherein the environment is monitored by the array of microphones;
the processor determining for each mask in the plurality of disjoint spatial masks a defined subset of microphones in the array of microphones and a beamforming filter for each of the microphones in the defined subset of microphones that maximizes a gain for the pass region and minimizes gain for the complementary rejection regions associated with each mask according to an optimization criterion that does not depend on the at least one acoustic source in the environment; and
the processor applying the plurality of disjoint spatial masks in a scanning action across the environment on signals generated by microphones in the array of microphones to detect the acoustic source and its location in the environment, wherein for each applied spatial mask only samples generated by the corresponding defined subset of microphones are processed by the processor.
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Abstract
Systems and methods are provided to create an acoustic map of a space containing multiple acoustic sources. Source localization and separation takes place by sampling an ultra large microphone array containing over 1020 microphones. The space is divided into a plurality of masks, wherein each masks represents a pass region and a complementary rejection region. Each mask is associated with a subset of microphones and beamforming filters that maximize a gain for signals coming from the pass region of the mask and minimizes the gain for signals from the complementary region according to an optimization criterion. The optimization criterion may be a minimization of a performance function for the beamforming filters. The performance function is preferably a convex function. A processor provides a scan applying the plurality of masks to locate a target source. Processor based systems to perform the optimization are also provided.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for creating an acoustic map of an environment having at least one acoustic source, comprising:
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surrounding the environment with an array of microphones that contains 1000 or more microphones in the array; a processor determining a plurality of disjoint spatial masks associated with the array of microphones covering the environment, each mask defining a different pass region for a signal and a plurality of complementary rejection regions, wherein the environment is monitored by the array of microphones; the processor determining for each mask in the plurality of disjoint spatial masks a defined subset of microphones in the array of microphones and a beamforming filter for each of the microphones in the defined subset of microphones that maximizes a gain for the pass region and minimizes gain for the complementary rejection regions associated with each mask according to an optimization criterion that does not depend on the at least one acoustic source in the environment; and the processor applying the plurality of disjoint spatial masks in a scanning action across the environment on signals generated by microphones in the array of microphones to detect the acoustic source and its location in the environment, wherein for each applied spatial mask only samples generated by the corresponding defined subset of microphones are processed by the processor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A system to create an acoustic map of an environment having at least one acoustic source, comprising:
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an array of microphones containing a plurality of 1000 or more microphones that surround the environment; a memory enabled to store data; a processor enabled to execute instructions to perform the steps; determining a plurality of disjoint spatial masks associated with the array of microphones covering the environment, each mask defining a different pass region for a signal and a plurality of complementary rejection regions, wherein the environment is monitored by the array of microphones; determining for each mask in the plurality of disjoint spatial masks a defined subset of microphones in the plurality of microphones and a beamforming filter for each of the microphones in the subset of microphones that maximizes a gain for the pass region and minimizes gain for the complementary rejection regions associated with each mask according to an optimization criterion that does not depend on the at least one acoustic source in the environment; and applying the plurality of disjoint spatial masks in a scanning action across the environment on signals generated by microphones in the array of microphones to detect the acoustic source and its location in the environment, wherein for each applied spatial mask only samples generated by the corresponding defined subset of microphones are processed by the processor. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification