Vector-Sensor Array DOA Estimation Based on Spatial Time-Frequency Distribution

Direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation is one of the classical problems in the realm of array signal processing, and its applications include such areas as navigation, tracking, communication. Conventional approaches for DOA estimation make utilize of an array of pressure sensors, which have been distributed at different locations. This paper deals with measurements obtained by an acoustical vector-sensor array and develops a new approach which exploits the spatial time-frequency information of the underlying vector-sensor array signal to achieve better DOA estimation performance even in a noisy and coherent environment. Numerical simulations are conducted to quantify the performance and evaluate the theoretical results developed in this paper. Concretely speaking, Simulation results show that under several frequently encountered scenarios, such as a single source and two closely spaced coherent sources, our proposed approach can achieve significant performance improvements. Furthermore, the superior root mean square error (RMSE) performance of our proposed algorithm against noise is demonstrated via Monte-Carlo numerical simulations.