On the Design of a Robust Superdirective Beamformer and Topology Parameter Optimization with Frustum-Shaped Microphone Arrays Featuring Multiple Rings

TY - CHAP

T1 - On the Design of a Robust Superdirective Beamformer and Topology Parameter Optimization with Frustum-Shaped Microphone Arrays Featuring Multiple Rings

AU - Zhao, Kunlong

AU - Huang, Gongping

AU - Zhao, Xudong

AU - Chen, Jingdong

AU - Benesty, Jacob

AU - Cvetkovic, Zoran

PY - 2025/5/19

Y1 - 2025/5/19

N2 - Superdirective beamformers using concentric circular micro- phone arrays are widely used in various applications for their steering capabilities, high directional gains, and robustness. However, their performance often degrades when the beam- former is steered outside the sensor plane, a limitation common in real-world scenarios due to the array’s planar configuration. To address this challenge, this paper introduces a novel class of co-axial frustum-shaped concentric circular microphone arrays, where multiple rings are distributed across different horizontal planes. A robust superdirective beamformer is designed by con- verting beamforming optimization into a quadratic eigenvalue problem. Additionally, an approach is proposed to optimize the array topology parameters using the particle swarm optimiza- tion algorithm. Simulation results demonstrate that the pro- posed method significantly improves beampattern steering and directivity, while effectively controlling the white noise gain.

AB - Superdirective beamformers using concentric circular micro- phone arrays are widely used in various applications for their steering capabilities, high directional gains, and robustness. However, their performance often degrades when the beam- former is steered outside the sensor plane, a limitation common in real-world scenarios due to the array’s planar configuration. To address this challenge, this paper introduces a novel class of co-axial frustum-shaped concentric circular microphone arrays, where multiple rings are distributed across different horizontal planes. A robust superdirective beamformer is designed by con- verting beamforming optimization into a quadratic eigenvalue problem. Additionally, an approach is proposed to optimize the array topology parameters using the particle swarm optimiza- tion algorithm. Simulation results demonstrate that the pro- posed method significantly improves beampattern steering and directivity, while effectively controlling the white noise gain.

M3 - Conference paper

BT - INTERSPEECH 2025: The 26th Annual Conference of the International Speech Communication Association

ER -