Sensor Array and Multipath Signal Processing Lab

The Sensor Array and Multipath (SAM) Signal Processing Lab is concerned with the extraction of information from signals carried by acoustic or electromagnetic waves propagating in complex media. A sensor array is a configuration of devices, each of which converts energy into an electrical response which can then be represented by a sequence of numbers in a digital computer. SAM processing is used in sonar, radar, biomedical imaging, seismology, wireless communications, radio astronomy, and oceanography, to name a few application areas. Historically, array processing methods were developed assuming single path propagation models due to their analytic and computational simplicity. This is despite the fact that in many problems, reception of signals via multiple propagation paths between the source and receiver is a dominant feature. Multipath signal processing thus refers to methods which explicitly account for realistic propagation in more complex environments. By virtue of the uncertainties in modeling such environments, as well as the presence of noise, interference, and clutter, SAM signals are typically characterized as multichannel random processes. 

The key to successful SAM information extraction is the integration of robust physical phenomenology into the design of statistical signal processing techniques. Intuitively speaking, we try to design statistical signal and array processing techniques which exploit or account for physical model-based phenomena which we can see in real data. A distinguishing characteristic of our work here at Duke is that we process real data, both collected by our collaborators and also obtained from laboratory testbed systems we build in our lab. Thus we adopt an innovate-analyze-test-redesign philosophy that provides a tight coupling between theoretical signal processing algorithms and real systems. Our current testbeds include an ultrasonic active sonar, a 64-element microphone passive audio array, a Wi-Fi microwave radar, and a ground-based robot sensor platform. Please explore our website via the links below to learn more about our research projects as well as opportunities to join us here at Duke.