Study of acoustic vector sensor based direction of arrival estimation of in-air maneuvering tonal source

•Direction of arrival (DOA) estimation of an in-air maneuvering acoustic tonal source is discussed.•A four-microphone p-p type acoustic vector sensor (AVS) has been developed.•Field experiments are performed by using a quadcopter.•Good agreement is observed between estimated and measured DOA angles. The direction of arrival (DOA) estimation of an in-air maneuvering acoustic source that emits a single tonal frequency is discussed in this paper. A four-microphone p-p type acoustic vector sensor (AVS) has been developed for the estimation of elevation and azimuth angles, and the same is evaluated during field experiments. Simulations are performed for the AVS configuration to estimate the DOA for various microphone spacing. The performance of the AVS configuration is evaluated in the simulation study for the angular error and root-mean-square angular error (RMSAE). Two different field experiments are performed where a quadcopter attached with an acoustic source is flown in controlled flights. The elevation and azimuth angles of the acoustic source during the maneuvers of the quadcopter are estimated by the AVS and are compared with the measured results using onboard GPS. Good agreement is observed between estimated and measured DOA angles. The elevation and azimuth directivity pattern of AVS for in-air application are also measured, and an almost omnidirectional radiation pattern is observed.