CRITICAL DISTANCE AND THE PERFORMANCE OF SENSOR ARRAY GEOMETRIES

In antisubmarine warfare (ASW) an aircraft is often used to drop sonob uoys in a pattern to try to locate an enemy submarine. If a target is detected, it may be necessary to drop more sensors to improve the dire ction of arrival (DOA) resolution in the direction of the target. The authors analyse the two source case in detail and develop a critical d istance definition that plays a major role in the resolution performan ce of an array. The critical distance leads to a solution to the probl em of where to place the next sensor to achieve a desred level of reso lution performance in the direction of the target.