A new time delay estimation in subbands for resolving multiple specular reflections

A new time delay estimation procedure is proposed using the multiresolution analysis framework through a discrete wavelet transform (DWT). Once the signals are decomposed, the time delays are estimated iteratively in each subband using two different adaptation mechanisms that minimize the mean squared error (MSE) between the reference and primary signals in the corresponding subband and level. The localization of the minima of the MSE curves at different levels and subbands is used in order to arrive at the time delay estimates. The proposed scheme is then applied to a real-life problem of underwater target detection from acoustic backscattered data.