Abstract: An environmentally assisted processor that includes an environmental characterization module, an echo prediction module and an acoustic consistency module. The environmental characterization module obtains surrounding environmental characteristics, and provides inputs of the surrounding environmental characteristics to the echo prediction module. The echo prediction module utilizes the surrounding environmental characteristics to predict echo waveforms of would be targets in that particular local environment. The acoustic consistency module compares an observed echo waveform with predicted echo waveforms, if they are similar the observed echo waveform is determined to be from a target.