Universal Tone Detection Based on the Goertzel Algorithm

This paper presents a new universal tone detection algorithm using the quotient of two Goertzel filter outputs. This algorithm will be referred to as the Goertzel quotient algorithm (GQA). A detailed analysis and comparison with existing solutions in terms of performance and computational complexity are given. The GQA was found to be a reliable tone detector in noisy environments and a high precision frequency estimator in environments with low noise. Computational complexity and memory requirements are on a low level.