Methods and apparatuses for implementing adaptive multi-trace carving to track signal traces

An apparatus, comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• at least one memory comprising computer program code,
• the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor to cause the apparatus at least to
• iteratively track at least one candidate frequency trace from a time-frequency representation of a signal;
• identify all frequency traces of the signal via a multiple frequency traces tracking and detection procedure, wherein the multiple frequency traces tracking and detection procedure comprises
• identification of at least one frequency trace comprising diffused energy of the signal within a predefined frequency range based on tracking results, and
• determination of an estimated frequency vector related to the at least one frequency trace by implementing an energy function, wherein the energy function comprises the time-frequency representation of the signal to be analyzed, and a regularization parameter that enforces smooth tracking results;
• output the estimated frequency vector related to the at least one frequency trace;
• reduce interference in subsequent iterations of tracking the at least one candidate frequency trace by attenuating, at an end of each iteration, diffused energy around the at least one frequency trace indicated by the estimated frequency vector;
• and
• authenticate the identified frequency traces by validating all the identified and attenuated frequency traces against a reference source,
• wherein the tracking is performed under a noisy condition environment.

A computer program embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, said computer program comprising program instructions stored thereon for performing a method, the method comprising:

• iteratively tracking at least one candidate frequency trace from a time-frequency representation of signal;
• identifying all frequency traces of the signal via a multiple frequency traces tracking and detection procedure, wherein the multiple frequency traces tracking and detection procedure comprises
• identifying at least one frequency trace comprising diffused energy of the signal within a predefined frequency range based on tracking results, and
• determining an estimated frequency vector related to the at least one frequency trace by implementing an energy function, wherein the energy function comprises the time-frequency representation of the signal to be analyzed, and a regularization parameter that enforces smooth tracking results;
• outputting the estimated frequency vector related to the at least one frequency trace;
• reducing interference in subsequent iterations of tracking the at least one candidate frequency trace by attenuating, at an end of each iteration, diffused energy around the at least one frequency trace indicated by the estimated frequency vector;
• and
• authenticating the identified frequency traces by validating all the identified and attenuated frequency traces against a reference source,
• wherein the tracking is performed under a noisy condition environment.