Target Direction Of Arrival Estimation Research Articles

Design and Algorithm Integration of High-Precision Adaptive Underwater Detection System Based on MEMS Vector Hydrophone.

Real-time DOA (direction of arrival) estimation of surface or underwater targets is of great significance to the research of marine environment and national security protection. When conducting real-time DOA estimation of underwater targets, it can be difficult to extract the prior characteristics of noise due to the complexity and variability of the marine environment. Therefore, the accuracy of target orientation in the absence of a known noise is significantly reduced, thereby presenting an additional challenge for the DOA estimation of the marine targets in real-time. Aiming at the problem of real-time DOA estimation of acoustic targets in complex environments, this paper applies the MEMS vector hydrophone with a small size and high sensitivity to sense the conditions of the ocean environment and change the structural parameters in the adaptive adjustments system itself to obtain the desired target signal, proposes a signal processing method when the prior characteristics of noise are unknown. Theoretical analysis and experimental verification show that the method can achieve accurate real-time DOA estimation of the target, achieve an error within 3.1° under the SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) of the X channel of -17 dB, and maintain a stable value when the SNR continues to decrease. The results show that this method has a very broad application prospect in the field of ocean monitoring.

DOA Estimation of Broadband Sources Using Dimension-Reduced Matrix Filter with Deep Nulling in a Strong Interference Environment

To enhance the performance of the adaptive matrix filter with nulling, a dimension-reduced matrix filter with deep nulling (DR-MFDN) is proposed in this paper and used for direction of arrival (DOA) estimation of broadband sources in a strong interference environment. Consider the change of noise after filtering, the gaussian matrix is used for prewhitening to prevent the noise from converting into colored noise without affecting the response characteristics of the beam-space. Finally, the multiple measurement vector orthogonal matching pursuit (MOMP) algorithm is used for DOA estimation of weak targets after filtering, and the simulation results show a better DOA estimation performance compared to the OMP and MUSIC algorithms with short snapshots.

An efficient sparse method for direction-of-arrival estimation in the presence of strong interference.

Target direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation is often difficult in the presence of strong interference-especially when the target DOA is very close to the interference DOA-since the strong interference signal can mask the weak target signal and make the DOA estimation hard. To address this problem, an efficient sparse method for DOA estimation is proposed in this paper, in which the effect of strong interference on the target DOA estimation is significantly reduced. An on-grid version of the grid evolution technique is then developed to nonuniformly refine the grid, thereby reducing the computational complexity while retaining reasonable accuracy. Numerical simulations and experimental results demonstrate that, compared to state-of-art methods, the proposed method achieves higher efficiency and better DOA estimation performance in the presence of strong interference.

Joint DOD and DOA Estimation of Coherent Targets for Coprime MIMO Radar

Recently, coprime arrays have attracted lots of interest due to their ability of providing enhanced degrees-of-freedom and reduced mutual coupling effect compared to conventional uniform linear arrays. Benefitting from these excellent properties, coprime multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar has been recently suggested for improving parameter identifiability and target detection. In this paper, we address the problem of joint direction-of-departure (DOD) and direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation of coherent targets in coprime MIMO radar. First of all, we establish an extended virtual uniform rectangular array (URA) by performing array interpolation on the transmit and receive arrays of coprime MIMO radar. Subsequently, we derive a low-rank block Hankel matrix that is constructed using the correlation information of the virtual URA expected outputs, and utilize the matched filter outputs to recover the block Hankel matrix by solving a low-rank structured matrix completion problem. Finally, we estimate the DODs and DOAs of coherent targets by applying the modified matrix pencil method on the recovered low-rank matrix. We also derive the Cramér-Rao bounds with closed-form expressions for DOD and DOA estimation of coherent targets using coprime MIMO radar. The proposed algorithm can identify multiple coherent targets and achieve parameter automatic pairing. Numerical results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm over several existing approaches when handling coherent targets.

Low-Elevation Target DOA Estimation Based on Multi-Scattering Center Equivalent Model

In very-high-frequency (VHF) radar, the direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation performance of low-angle targets tracking is strongly affected by the multipath phenomenon. Especially in the complex terrain conditions, the multipath echo comes from a region where the different scattering media make the multipath echo show the characteristics of multi-channel and uneven energy distribution. In this case, the received signal mismatches with the signal model, which leads to performance degradation and even failure of the traditional DOA algorithm. To deal with this problem, the authors propose a new signal model based on multiple scattering center. A multipath signal equivalent model is deduced and analyzed using multipath vector synthesis. Subsequently, the fitness function is established based on the equivalent model, and the target elevation angle is estimated by particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. Simulation results and real data analysis show that the proposed model and algorithm can effectively improve the DOA estimation accuracy of low elevation target under complex terrain and less snapshot condition.

The DOA Estimation Method for Low-Altitude Targets under the Background of Impulse Noise.

Due to the discontinuity of ocean waves and mountains, there are often multipath propagation effects and obvious pulse characteristics in low-altitude detection. If the conventional direction of arrival (DOA) estimation method is directly used for direction finding, it will lead to a large error. In view of serious misalignment in the DOA estimation of multipath signals under the background of impulse noise, a DOA estimation method based on spatial difference and a modified projection subspace algorithm is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the covariance matrix of the received data vector is used for spatial difference to eliminate the multipath effects of low-altitude targets. Secondly, the modified projection matrix is constructed using the signal source estimated with the least squares criterion and then used for modifying the covariance matrix, thus eliminating the cross-covariance matrices that affect the estimation accuracy. Finally, the modified covariance matrix is used for the DOA estimation of targets. Simulations show that the proposed algorithm achieves a higher accuracy in the DOA estimation of low-altitude targets than conventional algorithms under two common impulse noise models, without requiring prior knowledge of impulse noise.

Calibration of Phased-Array High-Frequency Radar on an Anchored Floating Platform

Prior studies have highlighted the importance of calibrating receiver antennas in target direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation and surface current measurement for high-frequency (HF) radar systems. It is worth noting that the calibration contributes to the performance of both shore-based HF radar and platform-mounted HF radar. Compared with shore-based HF radar, the influence of six-degrees-of-freedom (six-DOF) platform motion should be considered in the calibration of platform-mounted HF radar. This paper initially describes a calibration scheme that receives phasedarray antennas for an anchored platform-mounted HF radar incorporating a model of free rotation, which is called yaw rotation and dominates the six-DOF platform motion in this study. In the presence of yaw rotation, the amplitude and phase of the source calibration signal from the other shore-based radar sites reveal the directional sensitivity of the receiver phased-array antennas. The calibration of receiver phased-array antennas is composed of channel calibration (linking cables and receiver hardware calibration) and antenna pattern calibration. The antenna pattern at each bearing can be represented by the Fourier series. The estimation of channel calibration and antenna pattern calibration depends on an overdetermined HF radar system consisting of observed values and theoretical constraints, so the least-squares fits of the channel calibration coefficients and antenna pattern calibration coefficients are obtained. The experimental results show that the target DOA estimation and surface current measurement can be improved if the phased-array platform-mounted HF radar system is calibrated.

Multi-UAV Cooperative Localization for Marine Targets Based on Weighted Subspace Fitting in SAGIN Environment

As an indispensable part of the Internet of Vehicles (IoV), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can be deployed for target positioning and navigation in the space–air–ground-integrated network (SAGIN) environment. Maritime target positioning is very important for the safe navigation of ships, hydrographic surveys, and marine resource exploration. Traditional methods typically exploit satellites to locate marine targets in the SAGIN environment, and the location accuracy does not satisfy the requirements of modern ocean observation missions. In order to localize the marine target, we develop a system architecture in this article, which contains UAVs integrated with monostatic multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) radars. The main thrust is to estimate the direction-of-arrival (DOA) via MIMO radar. Herein, we consider a general scenario that unknown mutual coupling exist and a novel sparse reconstruction algorithm is proposed. The mutual coupling matrix (MCM) is adopted with the help of its special structure, we formulate the data model as a sparse representation form. Then, two novel matrices, a weighted matrix, and a reduced-dimensional matrix are constructed to reduce the computational complexity and enhance the sparsity, respectively. Thereafter, a sparse constraint model is constructed using the concept of optimal weighted subspace fitting (WSF). Finally, the DOA estimation of maritime targets can be achieved by reconstructing the support of a block sparse matrix. Based on the DOA estimation results, multiple UAVs are used to cross-locate marine targets multiple times, and an accurate marine target position is achieved in the SAGIN environment. Numerical results are carried out, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed DOA estimator, and the multi-UAV cooperative localization system can realize accurate target localization.

Dual Cancelled Channel STAP for Target Detection and DOA Estimation in Passive Radar

This paper deals with the problem of detection and direction of arrival (DOA) estimation of slowly moving targets against clutter in multichannel mobile passive radar. A dual cancelled channel space-time adaptive processing (STAP) scheme is proposed, aiming at reducing the system computational complexity, as well as the amount of required training data, compared to a conventional full array solution. The proposed scheme is shown to yield comparable target detection capability and DOA estimation accuracy with respect to the corresponding full array solution, despite the lower computational cost required. Moreover, it offers increased robustness against adaptivity losses, operating effectively even in the presence of a limited set of training data, as often available in the highly non-homogeneous clutter scenarios experienced in bistatic passive radar. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme and its suitability for passive GMTI are demonstrated against both simulated and experimental data collected by a DVB-T-based multichannel mobile passive radar.

Fractional Fourier transform based underwater multi-targets direction-of-arrival estimation using wideband linear chirps

In underwater applications, linear chirp signal with linearly instantaneous frequency over the signal bandwidth also known as a linear frequency modulated (LFM) signal is often used in active sonar to realize direction of arrival (DOA) estimation of targets. For this kind of wideband signal, traditional array signal processing method firstly transforms the time domain signal into frequency domain using fast Fourier transform (FFT) and then does beamforming for each sub-band. Different from FFT based signal processing method, this paper uses fractional Fourier transform (FRFT) for preprocessing of wideband LFM signals. By FRFT preprocessing, the wideband LFM signals are transformed into narrowband signals in the fractional Fourier domain, avoiding the influence of cross-interference terms. This paper compares the performance of FRFT based DOA estimation using conventional beamforming (CBF), minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR) and robust Capon beamforming (RCB) respectively. Then the revised RCB (RRCB) algorithm is proposed to solve the DOA estimation problem with a small number of snapshots. Simulations are carried out for single target and multi-targets DOA estimation using FFT based and FRFT based array signal processing method respectively. Simulation results show that FRFT based array signal processing method can achieve much narrower main lobe and higher main-to-side lobe ratio in low signal-to–noise ratio conditions. Besides, it can realize accurate DOA estimation of two adjacent targets while FFT based array signal processing method fails.

Iterative Sparse Covariance Matrix Fitting Direction of Arrival Estimation Method Based on Vector Hydrophone Array

Aiming at the direction of arrival (DOA) estimation of coherent signals in vector hydrophone array, an iterative sparse covariance matrix fitting algorithm is proposed. Based on the fitting criterion of weighted covariance matrix, the objective function of sparse signal power is constructed, and the recursive formula of sparse signal power iteration updating is deduced by using the properties of Frobenius norm. The present algorithm uses the idea of iterative reconstruction to calculate the power of signals on discrete grids, so that the estimated power is more accurate, and thus more accurate DOA estimation can be obtained. The theoretical analysis shows that the power of the signal at the grid point solved by the present algorithm is preprocessed by a filter, which allows signals in specified directions to pass through and attenuate signals in other directions, and has low sensitivity to the correlation of signals. The simulation results show that the average error estimated by the present method is 39.4% of the multi-signal classification high resolution method and 73.7% of the iterative adaptive sparse signal representation method when the signal-to-noise ratio is 15 dB and the non-coherent signal. Moreover, the average error estimated by the present method is 12.9% of the iterative adaptive sparse signal representation method in the case of coherent signal. Therefore, the present algorithm effectively improves the accuracy of target DOA estimation when applying to DOA estimation with highly correlated targets.

Computationally efficient method for joint DOD and DOA estimation of coherent targets in MIMO radar

This paper proposes a method for estimating the joint direction of departure (DOD) and direction of arrival (DOA) of coherent targets in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar with electromagnetic vector sensors. The method does not require any additional processing for both decorrelating the coherent targets and pairing the DOD and DOA, and exhibits real-valued operations. Compared to the existing polarization smoothing and unitary ESPRIT, the proposed method shows improved performance which is validated by the simulation results.

Sparsity-Based DOA Estimation of Coherent and Uncorrelated Targets With Flexible MIMO Radar

This paper considers the direction of arrival (DOA) estimation of coherent and uncorrelated targets by exploiting a flexible multiple input multiple output radar. First, the proposed radar is generalized with two coprime expansion factors for enlarging the inter-element spacing of transmit and receive arrays, referred to as sparse arrays with flexible inter-element spacing (SA-FIS), which shows that the conventional nested or coprime ones are the special cases. The range of consecutive lags and the number of unique lags in the sum-difference coarray are derived in closed form. It is verified that SA-FIS can obtain the maximum unique lags and also suppress the mutual coupling effects. We then extend the FIS viewpoint to sparse nonuniform linear arrays, where the two-level nested and coprime arrays are employed to achieve a significant increase in degrees of freedom (DOFs). Furthermore, to fully utilize these unique lags, we propose a reduced-complexity two-step sparse representation algorithm. By modifying and removing the off-diagonal elements of the estimated target covariance matrix, the proposed method can just identify the diagonal ones, thereby leading to further improved performance with much lower computational complexity. Finally, the Cramer-Rao bound on DOAs and correlated coefficients for SA-FIS is derived. Numerical simulations demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method with SA-FIS in terms of DOFs, computations, estimation accuracy, and resolution capability compared with previous ones.

A nested-PARAFAC based approach for target localization in bistatic MIMO radar systems

Bistatic MIMO radar systems gather several advantages such as increased resilience to electronic countermeasures, unknown receiver location, higher identifiability of targets and direct application of several high resolution adaptive techniques. In this paper, we propose a tensor-based method for joint direction of departure (DoD) and direction of arrival (DoA) estimation in bistatic MIMO radar systems. By assuming that the transmit array is divided into two maximally overlapping subarrays, we initially model the cross-covariance matrix of the matched filters outputs as a Nested-PARAFAC decomposition of a fourth-order covariance tensor. Then, exploiting the structure of this decomposition, we first propose a two stage algorithm for joint DoD and DoA estimation of multiple targets based on double alternating least squares (DALS). In addition, for scenarios in which the number of receive antennas exceeds the number of targets, we propose a closed-form solution to the second stage of the proposed method based on the least squares Khatri-Rao factorization (LS-KRF) concept. Simulation results show that the proposed method offers a highly-accurate localization of multiple targets in real-world scenarios where the antenna elements at the transmit and receive arrays have positioning errors as well as less complexity compared to competing state-of-the-art tensor-based solutions.

DOA Estimation for Underwater Target by Active Detection on Virtual Time Reversal Using a Uniform Linear Array.

Aiming at addressing the problem caused by multipath effects in direction of arrival (DOA) estimation for underwater targets, a method based on the active detection on virtual time reversal (ADVTR) Capon algorithm is proposed. Unlike the conventional passive target estimation method ignoring the multipath effects but only considering the direct wave, the proposed method is closer to the actual situation in that the multipath signal propagation model is fully taken into account; in addition, active detection (AD) and virtual time reversal (VTR) processes are added, which use active detection to estimate channels, and virtual time reversal to realize focusing in a computer after the source-receive array (SRA) receives the reflected signal of the target. The combination of the two methods can greatly improve the energy of SRA and the precision of target direction estimation. With the popular acoustic field simulation tool Bellhop, the model proposed in this paper is verified. Compared with the conventional Capon method without time reversal, the simulation results show that the ADVTR Capon estimation method is far better, in terms of resolution and suppressing the sidelobes. It is suitable for the target DOA estimation under low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions. Further, we also show the ADVTR Capon estimation method works well in a real tank experiment.

Integrated polarisation and diversity smoothing algorithm for DOD and DOA estimation of coherent targets

This study proposes a novel integrated polarisation and diversity smoothing (IPDS) algorithm to solve the direction estimation problem of coherent targets in bistatic multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar with electromagnetic vector sensors (EVSs). The IPDS algorithm partitions the transmit and receive arrays into multiple subarrays based on the sensor elements and the spatial phase shift factors. Then the covariance matrices of the received signals from coherent targets associated with these subarrays are smoothened to restore the rank inadequacy of the reflection coefficient covariance matrix. After applying the IPDS algorithm, the direction of departure (DOD) and the direction of arrival (DOA) are estimated using the estimation of signal parameters via rotational invariance technique and the multiple signal classification methods. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in terms of decorrelation factor, estimation accuracy, precision and the spatial spectrum is evaluated through computer simulations. Cramér–Rao lower bound is derived for the bistatic MIMO radar with EVSs to substantiate the proposed algorithm. The simulation results are compared with the diversity smoothing and the polarisation smoothing algorithms available in literature. The results obtained by using the proposed algorithm were found to be impressive.

A Support Vector Regression-Based Method for Target Direction of Arrival Estimation From HF Radar Data

High-frequency (HF) radars have great potential for maritime surveillance, and the multiple signal classification (MUSIC) algorithm is usually used to estimate the direction of arrival (DOA) of targets for a wide-beam radar. However, the performance of the MUSIC algorithm relies on the precision of the antenna pattern, which could be contaminated by nearby electromagnetic interference. Therefore, the actual antenna pattern must be measured and used. In order to remove the requirement of antenna pattern measurement, a new method for target DOA estimation from wide-beam HF radar data using support vector regression (SVR) is proposed in this letter. A system model that relates target bearing and radar data feature is obtained through the SVR-based machine learning using the automatic identification system data and data associated with the vessels successfully detected by the HF radar. Then, such a model is used to determine the DOAs of targets from new data. The field experimental results at two sites demonstrate that the performance of the SVR method is better than that of the MUSIC algorithm.

DOA Estimation for Underwater Wideband Weak Targets Based on Coherent Signal Subspace and Compressed Sensing.

Direction of arrival (DOA) estimation is the basis for underwater target localization and tracking using towed line array sonar devices. A method of DOA estimation for underwater wideband weak targets based on coherent signal subspace (CSS) processing and compressed sensing (CS) theory is proposed. Under the CSS processing framework, wideband frequency focusing is accompanied by a two-sided correlation transformation, allowing the DOA of underwater wideband targets to be estimated based on the spatial sparsity of the targets and the compressed sensing reconstruction algorithm. Through analysis and processing of simulation data and marine trial data, it is shown that this method can accomplish the DOA estimation of underwater wideband weak targets. Results also show that this method can considerably improve the spatial spectrum of weak target signals, enhancing the ability to detect them. It can solve the problems of low directional resolution and unreliable weak-target detection in traditional beamforming technology. Compared with the conventional minimum variance distortionless response beamformers (MVDR), this method has many advantages, such as higher directional resolution, wider detection range, fewer required snapshots and more accurate detection for weak targets.

Underwater Target Direction of Arrival Estimation by Small Acoustic Sensor Array Based on Sparse Bayesian Learning

Abstract Assuming independently but identically distributed sources, the traditional DOA (direction of arrival) estimation method of underwater acoustic target normally has poor estimation performance and provides inaccurate estimation results. To solve this problem, a new high-accuracy DOA algorithm based on sparse Bayesian learning algorithm is proposed in terms of temporally correlated source vectors. In novel method, we regarded underwater acoustic source as a first-order auto-regressive process. And then we used the new algorithm of multi-vector SBL to reconstruct the signal spatial spectrum. Then we used the CS-MMV model to estimate the DOA. The experiment results have shown the novel algorithm has a higher spatial resolution and estimation accuracy than other DOA algorithms in the cases of less array element space and less snapshots.

DOA estimation of multiple sources in sparse space with an extended array technique

An algorithm to improve direction of arrival (DOA) estimation accuracy with an extended sensor array in the presence of multiple coherent signal sources is proposed. The algorithm uses virtual element theory to extend the sensor array, estimates virtual element information via linear prediction and expands the array aperture in practical sense; the sparsity of the target orientation in angle space is exploited to establish an over-complete dictionary and a reception model for the array signal in sparse space; the received array data is preprocessed using singular value decomposition (SVD) method and target DOA estimation is realized by calculating the best atoms. The algorithm improves DOA estimation accuracy by extended array and uses SVD to control computational complexity effectively, which ensures the accuracy and efficiency. Computer simulation shows that the proposed algorithm is able to accurately estimate the DOA for both single-target and closely spaced multi-target cases in low signal-to-noise ratio environments, and also has excellent DOA estimation performance in the presence of multiple coherent signal sources.