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Array Processing: Signal Processing is a wide area of research that extends from the simplest form of 1-D signal processing to the complex form of M-D and array signal processing. This article presents a short survey of the concepts, principles and applications of Array Processing. Array structure can be defined as a set of sensors that are spatially separated, e.g. antennas. The basic problem that we attend to solve by using array processing technique(s) is to: * Determine number and locations of energy-radiating sources (emitters). * Enhance the signal to noise ratio SNR "signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR)". * Track multiple moving sources. Precisely, we are interested in solving these problems in noisy environments (in the presence of noise and interfering signals). Estimation Theory is an important and basic part of signal processing field, which used to deal with estimation problem in which the values of several parameters of the system should be estimated based on measured/empirical data that has a random component. As the number of applications increases, estimating temporal and spatial parameters become more important. Array processing emerged in the last few decades as an active area and was centered on the ability of using and combining data from different sensors (antennas) in order to deal with specific estimation task (spatial and temporal processing). In addition to the information that can be extracted from the collected data the framework uses the advantage prior knowledge about the geometry of the sensor array to perform the estimation task. Array processing is used in radar, sonar, seismic exploration, anti-jamming and wireless communications. One of the main advantages of using array processing along with an array of sensors is a smaller foot-print. The problems associated with array processing include the number of sources used, their direction of arrivals, and their signal waveforms.〔Torlak, M. (Spatial Array Processing ). Signal and Image Processing Seminar. University of Texas at Austin.〕 There are four assumptions in array processing. The first assumption is that there is uniform propagation in all directions of isotropic and non-dispersive medium. The second assumption is that for far field array processing, the radius of propagation is much greater than size of the array and that there is plane wave propagation. The third assumption is that there is a zero mean white noise and signal, which shows uncorrelation. Finally, the last assumption is that there is no coupling and the calibration is perfect.〔 ==Applications== The ultimate goal of sensor array signal processing is to estimate the values of parameters by using available temporal and spatial information, collected through sampling a wavefield with a set of antennas that have a precise geometry description. The processing of the captured data and information is done under the assumption that the wavefield is generated by a finite number of signal sources (emitters), and contains information about signal parameters characterizing and describing the sources. There are many applications related to the above problem formulation, where the number of sources, their directions and locations should be specified. To motivate the reader, some of the most important applications related to array processing will be discussed. * Radar and Sonar Systems: array processing concept was closely linked to radar and sonar systems which represent the classical applications of array processing. The antenna array is used in these systems to determine location(s) of source(s), cancel interference, suppress ground clutter. Radar Systems used basically to detect objects by using radio waves. The range, altitude, speed and direction of objects can be specified. Radar systems started as military equipments then entered the civilian world. In radar applications, different modes can be used, one of these modes is the active mode. In this mode the antenna array based system radiates pulses and listens for the returns. By using the returns, the estimation of parameters such as velocity, range and DOAs (direction of arrival) of target of interest become possible. Using the passive far-field listening arrays, only the DOAs can be estimated. Sonar Systems (Sound Navigation and Ranging) use the sound waves that propagate under the water to detect objects on or under the water surface. Two types of sonar systems can be defined the active one and the passive one. In active sonar, the system emits pulses of sound and listens to the returns that will be used to estimate parameters. In the passive sonar, the system is essentially listening for the sounds made by the target objects. It is very important to note the difference between the radar system that uses audio waves and the sonar system that uses sound waves, the reason why the sonar uses the sound wave is because sound waves travel farther in the water than do radar and light waves. In passive sonar, the receiving array has the capability of detecting distant objects and their locations. Deformable array are usually used in sonar systems where the antenna is typically drawn under the water. In active sonar, the sonar system emits sound waves (acoustic energy) then listening and monitoring any existing echo (the reflected waves). The reflected sound waves can be used to estimate parameters, such as velocity, position and direction etc. Difficulties and limitations in sonar systems comparing to radar systems emerged from the fact that the propagation speed of sound waves under the water is slower than the radio waves. Another source of limitation is the high propagation losses and scattering. Despite all these limitations and difficulties, sonar system remains a reliable technique for range, distance, position and other parameters estimation for underwater applications.〔 NORSAR is an independent geo-scientific research facility that was founded in Norway in 1968. NORSAR has been working with array processing ever since to measure seismic activity around the globe.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.norsar.no/norsar/about-us/ )〕 They are currently working on an International Monitoring System which will comprise 50 primary and 120 auxiliary seismic stations around the world. NORSAR has ongoing work to improve array processing to improve monitoring of seismic activity not only in Norway but around the globe. * Communications (wireless) Communication can be defined as the process of exchanging of information between two or more parties. The last two decades witnessed a rapid growth of wireless communication systems. This success is a result of advances in communication theory and low power dissipation design process. In general, communication (telecommunication) can be done by technological means through either electrical signals (wired communication) or electromagnetic waves (wireless communication). Antenna arrays have emerged as a support technology to increase the usage efficiency of spectral and enhance the accuracy of wireless communication systems by utilizing spatial dimension in addition to the classical time and frequency dimensions. Array processing and estimation techniques have been used in wireless communication. During the last decade these techniques were re-explored as ideal candidates to be the solution for numerous problems in wireless communication. In wireless communication, problems that affect quality and performance of the system may come from different sources. The multiuser –medium multiple access- and multipath -signal propagation over multiple scattering paths in wireless channels- communication model is one of the most widespread communication models in wireless communication (mobile communication). In the case of multiuser communication environment, the existence of multiuser increases the inter-user interference possibility that can affect quality and performance of the system adversely. In mobile communication systems the multipath problem is one of the basic problems that base stations have to deal with. Base stations have been using spatial diversity for combating fading due to the severe multipath. Base stations use an antenna array of several elements to achieve higher selectivity. Receiving array can be directed in the direction of one user at a time, while avoiding the interference from other users. * Medical applications Array processing techniques got on much attention from medical and industrial applications. In medical applications, the medical image processing field was one of the basic fields that use array processing. Other medical applications that use array processing: diseases treatment, tracking waveforms that have information about the condition of internal organs e.g. the heart, localizing and analyzing brain activity by using bio-magnetic sensor arrays. * Array Processing for Speech Enhancement Speech enhancement and processing represents another field that has been affected by the new era of array processing. Most of the acoustic front end systems became fully automatic systems (e.g. telephones). However, the operational environment of these systems contains a mix of other acoustic sources; external noises as well as acoustic couplings of loudspeaker signals overwhelm and attenuate the desired speech signal. In addition to these external sources, the strength of the desired signal is reduced due to the relatively distance between speaker and microphones. Array processing techniques have opened new opportunities in speech processing to attenuate noise and echo without degrading the quality of and affecting adversely the speech signal. In general array processing techniques can be used in speech processing to reduce the computing power (number of computations) and enhance the quality of the system (the performance). Representing the signal as a sum of sub-bands and adapting cancellation filters for the sub-band signals can reduce the demanded computation power and lead to a higher performance system. Relying on multiple input channels allows designing systems of higher quality comparing to systems that use single channel and solving problems such as source localization, tracking and separation, which cannot be achieved in case of using single channel. * Array Processing in Astronomy Applications Astronomical environment contains a mix of external signals and noises that affect the quality of the desired signals. Most of the arrays processing applications in astronomy are related to image processing. The array used to achieve a higher quality that is not achievable by using a single channel. The high image quality facilitates quantitative analysis and comparison with images at other wavelengths. In general, astronomy arrays can be divided into two classes: the beamforming class and the correlation class. Beamforming is a signal processing techniques that produce summed array beams from a direction of interest – used basically in directional signal transmission or reception- the basic idea is to combine elements in a phased array such that some signals experience destructive inference and other experience constructive inference. Correlation arrays provide images over the entire single-element primary beam pattern, computed off-line from records of all the possible correlations between the antennas, pairwise. * Other applications In addition to these applications, many applications have been developed based on array processing techniques: Acoustic Beamforming for Hearing Aid Applications, Under-determined Blind Source Separation Using Acoustic Arrays, Digital 3D/4D Ultrasound Imaging Array, Smart Antennas, Synthetic aperture radar, underwater acoustic imaging, and Chemical sensor arrays...etc.〔〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Array processing」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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