Localization and Tracking of Incoherent Ship Signals Using Distributed Acoustic Sensing

Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) has emerged as a promising technology for large-scale, passive monitoring of acoustic sources in the marine environment. In this work, we investigate the feasibility of using DAS to track and localize surface vessels based on their continuously emitted signals. Ship-generated acoustic signals span a wide frequency range and are often characterized by periodic or quasi-periodic narrowband tonal components. Depending on the coupling conditions of the fiber cable, these signals may exhibit limited spatial coherence across the DAS array thereby reducing the reliability of conventional localization techniques, such as time-difference-of-arrival (TDOA) approaches. To address these challenges, we apply a combination of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) enhancement techniques and coherent signal processing methods to optimize signals. We further implement different localization techniques to assess their limitations and strengths.

To quantitatively assess the performance of the proposed methods, DAS-based localization results are fused and compared with Automatic Identification System (AIS) data. This enables evaluation of localization accuracy, tracking consistency, and uncertainty as a function of vessel range, signal strength, and environmental conditions. By quantifying these limitations and associated uncertainties, this study provides practical insight into the operational capabilities and constraints of DAS for maritime surveillance and monitoring applications.