METHOD FOR ESTIMATING SIGNAL SOURCE LOCATION AND SIGNAL PARAMETERS USING AN ARRAY OF SIGNAL SENSOR PAIRS

The invention relates generally to the field of signal processing for signal reception and parameter estimation. The invention has many applications such as frequency estimation and filtering, and array data processing, etc. For convenience, only applications of this invention to sensor array processing are described herein. The array processing problem addressed is that of signal parameter and waveform estimation utilizing data collected by an array of sensors. Unique to this invention is that the sensor array geometry and individual sensor characteristics need not be known. Also, the invention provides substantial advantages in computations and storage over prior methods. However, the sensors must occur in pairs such that the paired elements are identical except for a displacement which is the same for all pairs. These element pairs define two subarrays which are identical except for a fixed known displacement. The signals must also have a particular structure which in direction-of-arrival estimation applications manifests itself in the requirement that the wavefronts impinging on the sensor array be planar. Once the number of signals and their parameters are estimated, the array configuration can be determined and the signals individually extracted. The invention is applicable in the context of array data processing to a number of areas including cellular mobile communications, space antennas, sonobuoys, towed arrays of acoustic sensors, and structural analysis.