Towed array shape self-calibration based on blind signal separation

An effective method was proposed to simultaneously estimate the Directions-of-Arrival (DOAs) and the sensor positions of a bended towed line array during a turn, which is called the array shape self-calibration problem. Firstly, the incident independent signals were blindly separated from the output of the multistage Constant Modulus (CM) array without any information of the towed array shape. The steering vectors corresponding to the signals were reconstructed at the same time. Then, based on the information contained in the estimated steering vectors, the towed array shape self-calibration problem could be described as a nonlinear constrained optimization problem and solved by the Genetic Algorithm. The effectiveness of the proposed method was illustrated by numerical examples.