This paper analyses the performance of Differential Head-Related Transfer Function (DHRTF), an alternative transfer function for headphone-based virtual sound source positioning within a horizontal plane. This experimental one-channel function is used to reduce processing and avoid timbre affection while preserving signal features important for sound localisation. The use of positioning algorithm employing the DHRTF is compared to two other common positioning methods: amplitude panning and HRTF processing. Results of theoretical comparison and quality assessment of the methods by subjective listening tests are presented. The tests focus on distinctive aspects of the positioning methods: spatial impression, timbre affection, and loudness fluctuations. The results show that the DHRTF positioning method is applicable with very promising performance; it avoids perceptible channel coloration that occurs within the HRTF method, and it delivers spatial impression more successfully than the simple amplitude panning method.
The BeiDou navigation satellite system (BDS) is one of the four global navigation satellite systems. More attention has been paid to the positioning algorithm of the BDS. Based on the study on the Kalman filter (KF) algorithm, this paper proposed a novel algorithm for the BDS, named as the minimum dispersion coefficient criteria Kalman filter (MDCCKF) positioning algorithm. The MDCCKF algorithm adopts minimum dispersion coefficient criteria (MDCC) to remove the influence of noise with an alpha-stable distribution (ASD) model which can describe non-Gaussian noise effectively, especially for the pulse noise in positioning. By minimizing the dispersion coefficient of the positioning error, the MDCCKF assures positioning accuracy under both Gaussian and non-Gaussian environment. Compared with the original KF algorithm, it is shown that the MDCCKF algorithm has higher positioning accuracy and robustness. The MDCCKF algorithm provides insightful results for potential future research.