<p>As you talk about direction and not localization, I assume that you mean a vertical triangular array.</p>
<p>Well, it depends.
It depends on the signal to noise ratio (SNR) and on the type of call.</p>
<p>pulse-type calls (with/without matched filter) that are suited for time-delay-of-arrival direction finding: the larger the better as the angular resolution capability depends on the size of the array</p>
<p>tonal calls that have broad correlation peaks and that are suited for coherent processing and have significant SNR then the maximal distance between hydrophones is half the wavelength for coherent (phase based) processing. The beam-width of such an array will be wide, but the higher the SNR the better the estimation of the direction.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-12T05:44:36.133Z
2022-07-12T05:44:36.133Z
WMXZ
<p>Great question, but it partly depends on what you mean by 'good'.</p>
<p>20 - 200Hz calls have wavelengths between 75 and 7.5m. With appropriate algorithms, it is possible to measure time delays to significantly less than a wavelength, so you can often get away with array spacing a lot smaller than you'd expect. In <a href="https://asa.scitation.org/doi/full/10.1121/1.5129678" rel="noreferrer">Gillespie and Macaulay 2019</a> we show that with a good SNR (&gt;17dB) it's possible to measure time delays for porpoise clicks to an accuracy of about a sixtieth of a sample or less than 1/200th of a wavelength. I find I get similar results with Baleen whale calls and even with 20Hz fin whale pulses can get reasonable bearings (10 - 20 degree errors) to these low frequency calls  even with an array as small as 1m, though slightly larger would be better.</p>
<p>If you're using PAMGuard for your analysis, there is a simulator which can generate signals in noise from known locations. I suggest you have a play with this and see what accuracy you can get for different SNR's and different array spacing. There are some sample configuration files available to get you started at <a href="http://www.pamguard.org/downloads.php?cat_id=3" rel="noreferrer">http://www.pamguard.org/downloads.php?cat_id=3</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-12T12:53:28.690Z
2022-07-12T12:53:28.690Z
Doug Gillespie
<p>What minimum spacing is required to get good bearing estimations from a triangular hydrophone array  for low frequency (20-200Hz) baleen whale calls?</p>

<localisation><bearing><frequency>
Minimum hydrophone spacing for low frequency bearing estimation
# Minimum hydrophone spacing for low frequency bearing estimation

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-07-11)

What minimum spacing is required to get good bearing estimations from a triangular hydrophone array for low frequency (20-200Hz) baleen whale calls?

**Tags:** localisation, bearing, frequency


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2022-07-12. Score: 7 | Accepted answer

Great question, but it partly depends on what you mean by 'good'.

20 - 200Hz calls have wavelengths between 75 and 7.5m. With appropriate algorithms, it is possible to measure time delays to significantly less than a wavelength, so you can often get away with array spacing a lot smaller than you'd expect. In [username_2 and Macaulay 2019](https://asa.scitation.org/doi/full/10.1121/1.5129678) we show that with a good SNR (>17dB) it's possible to measure time delays for porpoise clicks to an accuracy of about a sixtieth of a sample or less than 1/200th of a wavelength. I find I get similar results with Baleen whale calls and even with 20Hz fin whale pulses can get reasonable bearings (10 - 20 degree errors) to these low frequency calls even with an array as small as 1m, though slightly larger would be better.

If you're using PAMGuard for your analysis, there is a simulator which can generate signals in noise from known locations. I suggest you have a play with this and see what accuracy you can get for different SNR's and different array spacing. There are some sample configuration files available to get you started at <http://www.pamguard.org/downloads.php?cat_id=3>.


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### Answer by username_1 on 2022-07-12. Score: 4

As you talk about direction and not localization, I assume that you mean a vertical triangular array.

Well, it depends.
It depends on the signal to noise ratio (SNR) and on the type of call.

pulse-type calls (with/without matched filter) that are suited for time-delay-of-arrival direction finding: the larger the better as the angular resolution capability depends on the size of the array

tonal calls that have broad correlation peaks and that are suited for coherent processing and have significant SNR then the maximal distance between hydrophones is half the wavelength for coherent (phase based) processing. The beam-width of such an array will be wide, but the higher the SNR the better the estimation of the direction.


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