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Realtime Active Sound Source Localization for Unmanned Ground Robots Using a Self-Rotational Bi-Microphone Array

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Abstract

This work presents a novel technique that performs both orientation and distance localization of a sound source in a three-dimensional (3D) space using only the interaural time difference (ITD) cue, generated by a newly-developed self-rotational bi-microphone robotic platform. The system dynamics is established in the spherical coordinate frame using a state-space model. The observability analysis of the state-space model shows that the system is unobservable when the sound source is placed with elevation angles of 90 and 0 degree. The proposed method utilizes the difference between the azimuth estimates resulting from respectively the 3D and the two-dimensional models to check the zero-degree-elevation condition and further estimates the elevation angle using a polynomial curve fitting approach. Also, the proposed method is capable of detecting a 90-degree elevation by extracting the zero-ITD signal ’buried’ in noise. Additionally, a distance localization is performed by first rotating the microphone array to face toward the sound source and then shifting the microphone perpendicular to the source-robot vector by a predefined distance of a fixed number of steps. The integrated rotational and translational motions of the microphone array provide a complete orientation and distance localization using only the ITD cue. A novel robotic platform using a self-rotational bi-microphone array was also developed for unmanned ground robots performing sound source localization. The proposed technique was first tested in simulation and was then verified on the newly-developed robotic platform. Experimental data collected by the microphones installed on a KEMAR dummy head were also used to test the proposed technique. All results show the effectiveness of the proposed technique.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Xuan Zhong for providing with the experimental raw data using the KEMAR dummy head.

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  1. New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA

    Deepak Gala, Nathan Lindsay & Liang Sun

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  1. Deepak Gala
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Correspondence to Deepak Gala.

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Gala, D., Lindsay, N. & Sun, L. Realtime Active Sound Source Localization for Unmanned Ground Robots Using a Self-Rotational Bi-Microphone Array. J Intell Robot Syst 95, 935–954 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-018-0908-3

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