Analysis of the Influence of Underwater Acoustic Array Structural Factors on Multi-static Bearing-only Location

Aiming at the influence of underwater acoustic array structural factors on Multi-Static Bearing-Only Location (MSBOL), the paper divides the influencing array structural factors into the direction estimation ability determined by the array aperture and the array orientation characteristics determined by the multi-static deployment form. And then the influence of two factors on MSBOL is analyzed. The analysis result of direction estimation ability shows that under the condition that the direction estimation ability of each station is similar, the performance of MSBOL is significantly better than any bistatic combination. And as the direction estimation ability of some of the stations declines, the performance of MSBOL will be significantly reduced and ultimately lower than the optimal bistatic location result. The analysis results of the array orientation show that since the direction estimation of the linear array is obviously affected by the attitude change, the optimal MSBOL result can be obtained when the normal direction of the array points to the target.