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Nowadays, the joint estimation of time delay (TD) and angle of arrival (AOA) using conventional vector structure suffers from the considerable complexity of multidimensional spectrum search. Therefore, a fast estimation method using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) technology and uniform planar array (UPA) is proposed in this paper, which adopts low-complexity tensor-based operations and spatial-frequency features to reconfigure the channel frequency response. To begin with, the array response is integrated with the OFDM signal characteristics to build an extended array in tensor form. Afterwards, we process the covariance matrix of the tensor structure by CANDECOMP/PARAFAC decomposition (CPD) to separate the respective signal subspaces of TD and AOA estimates. Finally, we conduct a one-dimensional (1-D) spectrum search to locate the TD estimates and a two-dimensional (2-D) spectrum search to locate the AOA estimates. The simulated performance demonstrates that the proposed algorithm offers precise estimates at low signal-to-noise ratios in a multipath environment and outperforms traditional vector-based algorithms with respect to computational complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the array structure of the sparse arrays (SA) cannot be determined, the existing beamforming algorithms designed according to specific formations such as coprime arrays (CA), nested arrays (NA), etc. will fail. To solve this problem, we propose two algorithms that are suitable for a variety of SA. In the first method, assuming that the desired signal is a non-Gaussian signal, the desired signal direction vector (DSDV) is estimated using the fourth-order cumulant, and then the interference plus noise covariance matrix (INCM) is reconstructed by integrating the area outside the desired signal. When the desired signal is a Gaussian signal, we propose the second method. The second method estimates the power and direction of arrival (DOA) of the signals by performing eigenvalue decomposition on the sampled covariance matrix (SCM) and finally calculates the weight vector. However, this method needs to estimate the DOA of the signals, so it has certain requirements for the SA structure design. The simulation results show that the proposed method has good performance and strong robustness under different SA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As we all know, nested array can obtain a larger array aperture and more degrees of freedom using fewer sensors. In this study, we not only designed an enhanced symmetric nested array (ESNA), which achieved more consecutive lags and more unique lags compared with a generalized nested array but also developed a special cumulant matrix, in the case of a given number of sensors, which can automatically generate the largest consecutive lags of the array. First, the direction-of-arrivals (DOAs) of mixed sources are estimated using the special cumulant matrix. Then, we can estimate the range of the near-field source in the mixed source using a one-dimensional spectral search through estimated DOAs, and in the mixed sources, the near-field and far-field sources are classified by bringing in the range parameter. The largest consecutive lags and composition method of ESNA are also given, under a given number of sensors.Our algorithm has moderate computation complexity, which provides a higher resolution and improves the parameters' estimation accuracy. Numerical simulation results demonstrate that the proposed array showed an outstanding performance under estimation accuracy and resolution ability for both DOA and range estimation compared with existing arrays of the same physical array sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When there is coexistence of uncorrelated and coherent signals in sparse arrays, the conventional algorithms for direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation using difference coarray fail. In order to solve the problems, this paper analyzes the feasibility of using spatial smoothing in sparse arrays. Firstly, we summarize the two types of sparse arrays, one consisting of identical sparse subarrays and the other consisting of several uniform linear subarrays. Then, we give the feasibility analysis and the processes of applying spatial smoothing. At last, we discuss the performance of the number of detectable coherent signals in different sparse arrays. Numerical experiments prove the conclusions proposed by the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation for sparse arrays applied to the distributed source is worse than that applied to the point source model. In this paper, we introduce the coprime array with a large array aperture into the DOA estimation algorithm of the exponential-type coherent distributed source. In particular, we focus on the fourth-order cumulant (FOC) of the received signal which can provide more useful information when the signal is non-Gaussian than when it is Gaussian. The proposed algorithm extends the array aperture by combining the sparsity of array space domain with the fourth-order cumulant characteristics of signals, which improves the estimation accuracy and degree of freedom (DOF). Firstly, the signal-received model of the sparse array is established, and the fourth-order cumulant matrix of the received signal of the sparse array is calculated based on the characteristics of distributed sources, which extend the array aperture. Then, the virtual array is constructed by the sum aggregate of physical array elements, and the position set of its maximum continuous part array element is obtained. Finally, the center DOA estimation of the distributed source is realized by the subspace method. The accuracy and DOF of the proposed algorithm are higher than those of the distributed signal parameter estimator (DSPE) algorithm and least-squares estimation signal parameters via rotational invariance techniques (LS-ESPRIT) algorithm when the array elements are the same. Complexity analysis and numerical simulations are provided to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Joint time delay and direction of arrival estimation based on uniform linear arrays in Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems has to face the problems posed by coherent multipath environments and high computational complexity. In this paper, a novel fast method is proposed to achieve a joint direction-of-arrival (DOA) and time-dealy (TD) estimation of multipath OFDM signals by fully using space-frequency characteristics. Firstly, we construct an extended virtual array by combining the array structure and frequency-domain information. Then, we calculate the extended channel frequency response matrix and adopt smoothing processing to eliminate the multipath effect. Next, we get the result of DOA estimation by using a closed-form solution, which costs little complexity and can achieve fast estimation. Finally, we conduct a one-dimensional spectral search using the obtained DOA values to estimate time delays. Simulation results show that our proposed methods have excellent performance even under low SNR conditions in different multipath environments. Furthermore, methods proposed in this paper have much less computational complexity and better estimation performance compared with the multidimensional spectral peak search methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In multipath environment, the computation complexity of single snapshot maximum likelihood for time delay estimation is huge. In particular, the computational complexity of grid search method increases exponentially with the increase of dimension. For this reason, this paper presents a maximum likelihood estimation algorithm based on Monte Carlo importance sampling technique. Firstly, the algorithm takes advantage of the channel frequency response in order to build the likelihood function of time delay in multipath environment. The pseudoprobability density function is constructed by using exponential likelihood function. Then, it is crucial to choose the importance function. According to the characteristic of the Vandermonde matrix in likelihood function, the product of the conjugate transpose Vandermonde matrix and itself is approximated by the product of a constant and an identity matrix. The pseudoprobability density function can be decomposed into product of many probability density functions of single path time delay. The importance function is constructed. Finally, according to probability density function of multipath time delay decomposed by importance function, the time delay of the multipath is sampled by Monte Carlo method. The time delay is estimated via calculating weighted mean of sample. Simulation results show that the performance of proposed algorithm approaches the Cramér-Rao bound with reduced complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]