Stochastic Maximum-Likelihood DOA Estimation and Source Enumeration in the Presence of Nonuniform Noise

TL;DR

This paper introduces computationally feasible stochastic maximum-likelihood methods for estimating the number and directions of signal sources in sensor arrays affected by nonuniform noise, improving robustness and efficiency.

Contribution

It proposes new SML-based algorithms for DOA estimation and source enumeration that handle nonuniform noise with manageable computational complexity and robustness against source correlation.

Findings

Algorithms outperform traditional methods in simulations

Proposed methods are robust to correlated sources

Computational complexity remains feasible

Abstract

In this paper, the problem of determining the number of signal sources impinging on an array of sensors and estimating their directions-of-arrival (DOAs) in the presence of spatially white nonuniform noise is considered. It is known that, in the case of nonuniform noise, the stochastic likelihood function cannot be concentrated with respect to the diagonal elements of noise covariance matrix. Therefore, the stochastic maximum-likelihood (SML) DOA estimation and source enumeration in the presence of nonuniform noise requires multidimensional search with very high computational complexity. Recently, two algorithms for estimating noise covariance matrix in the presence of nonuniform noise have been proposed in the literature. Using these new estimates of noise covariance matrix, an approach for obtaining the SML estimate of signal DOAs is proposed. In addition, new approaches are proposed for SML source enumeration with information criteria in the presence of nonuniform noise. The important feature of the proposed SML approaches for DOA estimation and source enumeration is that they have admissible computational complexity. In addition, some of them are robust against correlation between source signals. The performance of the proposed DOA estimation and source enumeration approaches are investigated using computer simulations.