Patent ID: 8325562

Claim:
A method of determining propagation within a region using a mobile source of acoustic signals and a set of stationary sensors of an acoustic sensor array of a gunshot location system, the method comprising: moving the mobile source in a tour to survey propagation paths of acoustic impulses between sensors of the set of sensors and the mobile source in a coverage area, wherein the coverage area includes an urban environment characterized in that the propagation paths of one or more of the acoustic impulses from the mobile source are influenced by the presence of buildings which cause refraction, reflection or blockage of acoustic transmissions; recording acoustic propagation parameters of the acoustic impulses between one or more of the stationary sensors and the mobile source to provide a survey dataset of acoustic propagation information at points along the survey route, wherein the propagation parameters include an arrival time from an impulse that is influenced by refraction, reflection or blockage caused by one or more external surfaces of the buildings; and analyzing the propagation parameters from the survey dataset to predict performance of the gunshot location system against actual gunshot events.