Cumulant-based blind identification of linear multi-input-multi-output systems driven by colored inputs

Abstract

The blind identification problem of a linear multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) system is widely noticed by many researchers in diverse fields due to its relevance to blind signal separation. However, such a problem is ill-posed and has no unique solution. Therefore, we can only find a solution of the problem within an equivalence class. We address the blind identification problem of the linear MIMO system driven by unobservable colored inputs using higher order statistics (HOS), particularly the fourth-order cumulants, of the outputs, where the unobservable inputs are mutually independent but temporally colored linear processes. We first define the set, which is denoted by S, of stable scalar transfer functions and then define the notion of a generalized permutation matrix (which is abbreviated by a g-matrix) over S. Then, it is shown that the transfer function matrix of an unknown system is identified only up to post-multiplication by a g matrix. This result is applied to identifying FIR systems for blind signal separation.