Effect of reduced beamformers on matched-field performance for various array configurations

Abstract

A modified reduced minimum variance (MRMV) beamformer has been proposed to enhance performance. Computer simulations with and without mismatch are used to investigate the performance of the MV and MRMV beamformers for horizontal, vertical and billboard arrays. With MV processing, mismatch in the form of errors in sensor positions reduced the performance of all array types. Simulations showed the MRMV consistently outperformed MV for all array configurations even when no mismatch was present. A reduction of time-bandwidth affected the potentially superior performance of arrays with horizontal extent to a much greater degree than vertical arrays.<>