Source localization on solids utilizing logistic modeling of energy transition in vibration signals

Abstract

We propose a new algorithm for source localization on rigid surfaces, which allows one to convert daily objects into human-computer touch interfaces using surface-mounted vibration sensors. This is achieved via estimating the time-difference-of-arrivals (TDOA) of the signals across the sensors. In this work, we employ a smooth parametrized function to model the gradual noise-to-signal energy transition at each sensor. Specifically, the noise-to-signal transition is modeled by a four-parameter logistic function. The TDOA is then estimated as the difference in time shifts of the functions fitted to the sensor data. Experiment results show that the proposed algorithm significantly outperforms existing techniques which adopt the abrupt change model for time-of-arrival estimation.