Identification of acoustic MIMO systems: Challenges and opportunities

A systematic overview of acoustic MIMO identification algorithms is presented in this paper, which explains why we believe that the mother of all challenges in acoustic signal processing is how to accurately estimate room acoustic impulse responses in real time. From non-blind to blind methods with respect to both single-channel and multichannel acoustic systems, we scan the state of the art in acoustic channel identification technologies and outline fundamental challenges that still are waiting for breakthroughs. A number of acoustic signal processing problems are briefly reviewed and their connections to acoustic MIMO identification are clarified. Several successful real-time systems based on acoustic MIMO identification are discussed to confirm the value of this technique.