Impulsive sources localisation in noisy environment using modified beamforming method

When a machine has faults in its rotating part, it normally generates periodic vibration or acoustic signals. These signals are often periodic but impulsive. This paper addresses the way in which we can find where the impulsive sources are. We propose a signal processing method that can identify impulsive sources' location. The method is robust with respect to noise; spatially distributed noise. Numerical simulation and experiments are performed to verify the method. Results show that the proposed technique is quite powerful for localising the sources in noisy environments. The method also required less microphones than conventional beamforming method. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.