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Article

A Method Integrating the Matching Field Algorithm for the Three-Dimensional Positioning and Search of Underwater Wrecked Targets

1
School of Navigation, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian 116026, China
2
Peng Cheng Laboratory, Shenzhen 518066, China
3
Department of Applied Mathematics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sensors 2025, 25(15), 4762; https://doi.org/10.3390/s25154762 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 7 June 2025 / Revised: 10 July 2025 / Accepted: 31 July 2025 / Published: 1 August 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensor Fusion in Positioning and Navigation)

Abstract

In this paper, a joint Matching Field Processing (MFP) Algorithm based on horizontal uniform circular array (UCA) is proposed for three-dimensional position of underwater wrecked targets. Firstly, a Marine search and rescue position model based on Minimum Variance Distortionless Response (MVDR) and matching field quadratic joint Algorithm was proposed. Secondly, an MVDR beamforming method based on pre-Kalman filtering is designed to refine the real-time DOA estimation of the desired signal and the interference source, and the sound source azimuth is determined for prepositioning. The antenna array weights are dynamically adjusted according to the filtered DOA information. Finally, the Adaptive Matching Field Algorithm (AMFP) used the DOA information to calculate the range and depth of the lost target, and obtained the range and depth estimates. Thus, the 3D position of the lost underwater target is jointly estimated. This method alleviates the angle ambiguity problem and does not require a computationally intensive 2D spectral search. The simulation results show that the proposed method can better realise underwater three-dimensional positioning under certain signal-to-noise ratio conditions. When there is no error in the sensor coordinates, the positioning error is smaller than that of the baseline method as the SNR increases. When the SNR is 0 dB, with the increase in the sensor coordinate error, the target location error increases but is smaller than the error amplitude of the benchmark Algorithm. The experimental results verify the robustness of the proposed framework in the hierarchical ocean environment, which provides a practical basis for the deployment of rapid response underwater positioning systems in maritime search and rescue scenarios.
Keywords: maritime search; direction of arrival estimation; matched field processing; three-dimensional positioning; beamforming maritime search; direction of arrival estimation; matched field processing; three-dimensional positioning; beamforming

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Cao, H.; Yang, T.; Yiu, K.-F.C. A Method Integrating the Matching Field Algorithm for the Three-Dimensional Positioning and Search of Underwater Wrecked Targets. Sensors 2025, 25, 4762. https://doi.org/10.3390/s25154762

AMA Style

Cao H, Yang T, Yiu K-FC. A Method Integrating the Matching Field Algorithm for the Three-Dimensional Positioning and Search of Underwater Wrecked Targets. Sensors. 2025; 25(15):4762. https://doi.org/10.3390/s25154762

Chicago/Turabian Style

Cao, Huapeng, Tingting Yang, and Ka-Fai Cedric Yiu. 2025. "A Method Integrating the Matching Field Algorithm for the Three-Dimensional Positioning and Search of Underwater Wrecked Targets" Sensors 25, no. 15: 4762. https://doi.org/10.3390/s25154762

APA Style

Cao, H., Yang, T., & Yiu, K.-F. C. (2025). A Method Integrating the Matching Field Algorithm for the Three-Dimensional Positioning and Search of Underwater Wrecked Targets. Sensors, 25(15), 4762. https://doi.org/10.3390/s25154762

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