TY - JOUR
T1 - Multi-frequency based underdetermined direction-of-arrival estimation for irregularly positioned sparse array
AU - Li, Renjie
AU - Tian, Dezhi
AU - Liang, Zhennan
AU - Chang, Shaoqiang
AU - Liu, Quanhua
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2025/10
Y1 - 2025/10
N2 - With the increasing complexity of modern electromagnetic environments, it is more and more common that the number of sources is more than the number of physical sensors, hence underdetermined direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation has been a key problem. Sparse array is able to increase degrees-of-freedom (DOFs) in the context of difference coarray equivalence. However, most of the related methods have strict restrictions on sparse array configurations and are difficult to apply in engineering. Therefore, in this paper, we study the underdetermined DOA estimation method based on irregularly positioned sparse arrays. Firstly, we extend the virtual array elements by multi-frequency, and then, to address the DOA ambiguity caused by the existence of holes in the virtual array, we take advantage of the difference in the positions of the virtual array elements generated by different frequency and realize the unambiguous DOA estimation by the spatial spectral multiplication of the different virtual array. In addition, we discuss the theoretical constraints on the random layout of sparse array elements and gives a design solution which can exploit all of the DOFs. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the method.
AB - With the increasing complexity of modern electromagnetic environments, it is more and more common that the number of sources is more than the number of physical sensors, hence underdetermined direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation has been a key problem. Sparse array is able to increase degrees-of-freedom (DOFs) in the context of difference coarray equivalence. However, most of the related methods have strict restrictions on sparse array configurations and are difficult to apply in engineering. Therefore, in this paper, we study the underdetermined DOA estimation method based on irregularly positioned sparse arrays. Firstly, we extend the virtual array elements by multi-frequency, and then, to address the DOA ambiguity caused by the existence of holes in the virtual array, we take advantage of the difference in the positions of the virtual array elements generated by different frequency and realize the unambiguous DOA estimation by the spatial spectral multiplication of the different virtual array. In addition, we discuss the theoretical constraints on the random layout of sparse array elements and gives a design solution which can exploit all of the DOFs. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the method.
KW - DOA ambiguity
KW - Multi-frequency
KW - Sparse array
KW - Underdetermined DOA estimation
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105004649243
U2 - 10.1016/j.dsp.2025.105295
DO - 10.1016/j.dsp.2025.105295
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:105004649243
SN - 1051-2004
VL - 165
JO - Digital Signal Processing: A Review Journal
JF - Digital Signal Processing: A Review Journal
M1 - 105295
ER -