Array shape estimation

A description of a method for the determination of array shape is given in three dimensions using measurements of array heading and depth taken at known points along the array, including the mathematical basis for the method. The applicability of this procedure to the determination of array shape is based on the idealization of the array, containing heading and depth sensors, as some unknown smooth curve on which both the heading of the tangent to the curve and the depth of the curve (below some convenient datum plane such as the water surface) are each measured at preselected points fixed on the curve, each point corresponding to the location of either a heading or a depth sensor in the array.