High-order propagator-based DOA estimators using a coprime array without the source number

A novel direction of arrival (DOA) estimating method is proposed based on the coprime array, which can work without a priori information of the source number. The fourth-order statistics is adopted to construct a virtual array with a large aperture, which can also suppress Gaussian noise leading to a higher estimation accuracy and more importantly allowing the propagator construction. A propagator combining source number estimation and DOA estimation is presented firstly. Then considering the risk brought by the source number estimator, an improved propagator is constructed without the priori or estimated source number. The performance of the proposed method has been verified through some simulations.

Automated summary

A novel DOA estimating method based on the coprime array is proposed, which can work without a priori information and improves estimation accuracy using fourth-order statistics.