Description:
<jats:p>Hostile Fire Detection (HFD) sensors play an increasing role in combating asymmetric threats in both military and civilian operations. Bio-inspired advances in acoustic sensor technology have enabled small aperture arrays to localize and identify target sounds on baselines as small as 7.5 cm, making them practical for body worn and mobile applications such as UAVs. The unique approach to acoustic processing reduces acoustic information through a neural transform to key features that allow segregation of multiple targets using spectro-temporal cues creating auditory objects. The sparse representation of targets as auditory objects enables fast computationally efficient localization, identification, and tracking of several acoustic targets nearly simultaneously. The sparse representation is also ideal for information fusion among sensors over limited bandwidth networks for enhanced performance in challenging environments. Through a collaborative effort between Army research groups, the University of California Santa Barbara, and BioMimetic Systems, a prototype acoustic sensor network using biologically inspired sensors and network synchronization for a mobile HFD application has been developed. The network employs body worn PinPoint™ HFD sensors interfaced with smartphones (Android) running net-centric fusion algorithms. The network will be discussed in terms of the biologically inspired components, information fusion, as well as results from preliminary field tests.</jats:p>