Array processing

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Array processing: signal processing is a wide area of research

that extends from the simplest form of 1-D signal processing to
the complex form of M-D and array signal processing. This
article presents a short survey of the concepts, principles and
applications of Array Processing. Array structure can be defined
as a set of sensors that are spatially separated, e.g. antennas.
The basic problem that we intend to solve by using array
processing technique(s) is to:

Determine number and locations of energy-radiating sources

(emitters).
Enhance the signal to noise ratio SNR "signal-to-interference-
plus-noise ratio (SINR)".
Track multiple moving sources.

Precisely, we are interested in solving these problems in noisy

environments (in the presence of noise and interfering signals).
Estimation theory is an important and basic part of signal
processing field, which used to deal with estimation problem in
which the values of several parameters of the system should be
estimated based on measured/empirical data that has a
random component. As the number of applications increases,
estimating temporal and spatial parameters become more
important. Array processing emerged in the last few decades
as an active area and was centered on the ability of using and
combining data from different sensors (antennas) in order to
deal with specific estimation task (spatial and temporal
processing). In addition to the information that can be
extracted from the collected data the framework uses the
advantage prior knowledge about the geometry of the sensor
array to perform the estimation task. Array processing is used
in radar, sonar, seismic exploration, anti-jamming and wireless
communications. One of the main advantages of using array
processing along with an array of sensors is a smaller foot-
print. The problems associated with array processing include
the number of sources used, their direction of arrivals, and their
signal waveforms.[1][2][3][4]
Sensors array

There are four assumptions in array processing. The first

assumption is that there is uniform propagation in all directions
of isotropic and non-dispersive medium. The second
assumption is that for far field array processing, the radius of
propagation is much greater than size of the array and that
there is plane wave propagation. The third assumption is that
there is a zero mean white noise and signal, which shows
uncorrelation. Finally, the last assumption is that there is no
coupling and the calibration is perfect.[1]

Applications
The ultimate goal of sensor array signal processing is to
estimate the values of parameters by using available temporal
and spatial information, collected through sampling a wavefield
with a set of antennas that have a precise geometry
description. The processing of the captured data and
information is done under the assumption that the wavefield is
generated by a finite number of signal sources (emitters), and
contains information about signal parameters characterizing
and describing the sources. There are many applications
related to the above problem formulation, where the number of
sources, their directions and locations should be specified. To
motivate the reader, some of the most important applications
related to array processing will be discussed.

Radar and Sonar Systems:

array processing concept was closely linked to radar and sonar

systems which represent the classical applications of array
processing. The antenna array is used in these systems to
determine location(s) of source(s), cancel interference,
suppress ground clutter. Radar systems used basically to
detect objects by using radio waves. The range, altitude, speed
and direction of objects can be specified. Radar systems
started as military equipments then entered the civilian world.
In radar applications, different modes can be used, one of these
modes is the active mode. In this mode the antenna array
based system radiates pulses and listens for the returns. By
using the returns, the estimation of parameters such as
velocity, range and DOAs (direction of arrival) of target of
interest become possible. Using the passive far-field listening
arrays, only the DOAs can be estimated. Sonar systems (Sound
Navigation and Ranging) use the sound waves that propagate
under the water to detect objects on or under the water surface.
Two types of sonar systems can be defined the active one and
the passive one. In active sonar, the system emits pulses of
sound and listens to the returns that will be used to estimate
parameters. In the passive sonar, the system is essentially
listening for the sounds made by the target objects. It is very
important to note the difference between the radar system that
uses audio waves and the sonar system that uses sound
waves, the reason why the sonar uses the sound wave is
because sound waves travel farther in the water than do radar
and light waves. In passive sonar, the receiving array has the
capability of detecting distant objects and their locations.
Deformable array are usually used in sonar systems where the
antenna is typically drawn under the water. In active sonar, the
sonar system emits sound waves (acoustic energy) then
listening and monitoring any existing echo (the reflected
waves). The reflected sound waves can be used to estimate
parameters, such as velocity, position and direction etc.
Difficulties and limitations in sonar systems comparing to radar
systems emerged from the fact that the propagation speed of
sound waves under the water is slower than the radio waves.
Another source of limitation is the high propagation losses and
scattering. Despite all these limitations and difficulties, sonar
system remains a reliable technique for range, distance,
position and other parameters estimation for underwater
applications.[3][5]

Radar System

NORSAR is an independent geo-scientific research facility that

was founded in Norway in 1968. NORSAR has been working
with array processing ever since to measure seismic activity
around the globe.[6] They are currently working on an
International Monitoring System which will comprise 50
primary and 120 auxiliary seismic stations around the world.
NORSAR has ongoing work to improve array processing to
improve monitoring of seismic activity not only in Norway but
around the globe.[7]
 Communications (wireless)

Communication can be defined as the process of exchanging

of information between two or more parties. The last two
decades witnessed a rapid growth of wireless communication
systems. This success is a result of advances in
communication theory and low power dissipation design
process. In general, communication (telecommunication) can
be done by technological means through either electrical
signals (wired communication) or electromagnetic waves
(wireless communication). Antenna arrays have emerged as a
support technology to increase the usage efficiency of spectral
and enhance the accuracy of wireless communication systems
by utilizing spatial dimension in addition to the classical time
and frequency dimensions. Array processing and estimation
techniques have been used in wireless communication. During
the last decade these techniques were re-explored as ideal
candidates to be the solution for numerous problems in
wireless communication. In wireless communication, problems
that affect quality and performance of the system may come
from different sources. The multiuser –medium multiple
access- and multipath -signal propagation over multiple
scattering paths in wireless channels- communication model is
one of the most widespread communication models in wireless
communication (mobile communication).

Multi-path communication problem in wireless communication systems

In the case of multiuser communication environment, the

existence of multiuser increases the inter-user interference
possibility that can affect quality and performance of the
system adversely. In mobile communication systems the
multipath problem is one of the basic problems that base
stations have to deal with. Base stations have been using
spatial diversity for combating fading due to the severe
multipath. Base stations use an antenna array of several
elements to achieve higher selectivity. Receiving array can be
directed in the direction of one user at a time, while avoiding
the interference from other users.

Medical applications
Array processing techniques got on much attention from
medical and industrial applications. In medical applications, the
medical image processing field was one of the basic fields that
use array processing. Other medical applications that use array
processing: diseases treatment, tracking waveforms that have
information about the condition of internal organs e.g. the
heart, localizing and analyzing brain activity by using bio-
magnetic sensor arrays.[8]

Array Processing for Speech Enhancement

Speech enhancement and processing represents another field

that has been affected by the new era of array processing. Most
of the acoustic front end systems became fully automatic
systems (e.g. telephones). However, the operational
environment of these systems contains a mix of other acoustic
sources; external noises as well as acoustic couplings of
loudspeaker signals overwhelm and attenuate the desired
speech signal. In addition to these external sources, the
strength of the desired signal is reduced due to the relatively
distance between speaker and microphones. Array processing
techniques have opened new opportunities in speech
processing to attenuate noise and echo without degrading the
quality of and affecting adversely the speech signal. In general
array processing techniques can be used in speech processing
to reduce the computing power (number of computations) and
enhance the quality of the system (the performance).
Representing the signal as a sum of sub-bands and adapting
cancellation filters for the sub-band signals can reduce the
demanded computation power and lead to a higher
performance system. Relying on multiple input channels allows
designing systems of higher quality comparing to systems that
use single channel and solving problems such as source
localization, tracking and separation, which cannot be achieved
in case of using single channel.[9]

Array Processing in Astronomy Applications

Astronomical environment contains a mix of external signals

and noises that affect the quality of the desired signals. Most
of the arrays processing applications in astronomy are related
to image processing. The array used to achieve a higher quality
that is not achievable by using a single channel. The high image
quality facilitates quantitative analysis and comparison with
images at other wavelengths. In general, astronomy arrays can
be divided into two classes: the beamforming class and the
correlation class. Beamforming is a signal processing
techniques that produce summed array beams from a direction
of interest – used basically in directional signal transmission or
reception- the basic idea is to combine elements in a phased
array such that some signals experience destructive inference
and other experience constructive inference. Correlation arrays
provide images over the entire single-element primary beam
pattern, computed off-line from records of all the possible
correlations between the antennas, pairwise.

One antenna of the Allan Telescope Array

Other applications

In addition to these applications, many applications have been

developed based on array processing techniques: Acoustic
Beamforming for Hearing Aid Applications, Under-determined
Blind Source Separation Using Acoustic Arrays, Digital 3D/4D
Ultrasound Imaging Array, Smart Antennas, Synthetic aperture
radar, underwater acoustic imaging, and Chemical sensor
arrays...etc.[3][4][5]

General model and problem formulation

Consider a system that consists of array of r arbitrary sensors
that have arbitrary locations and arbitrary directions (directional
characteristics) which receive signals that generated by q
narrow band sources of known center frequency ω and
locations θ1, θ2, θ3, θ4 … θq. since the signals are narrow band
the propagation delay across the array is much smaller than the
reciprocal of the signal bandwidth and it follows that by using a
complex envelop representation the array output can be
expressed (by the sense of superposition) as :[3][5][8]

Where:

is the vector of the signals received by the array

sensors,
is the signal emitted by the kth source as received at
the frequency sensor 1 of the array,
 is the steering vector of the array toward direction
(θk),
τi(θk): is the propagation delay between the first and the ith
sensor for a waveform coming from direction (θk),
is the noise vector.

The same equation can be also expressed in the form of

vectors:

If we assume now that M snapshots are taken at time instants

t1, t2 … tM, the data can be expressed as:

Where X and N are the r × M matrices and S is q × M:

Problem definition
“The target is to estimate the DOA’s θ1, θ2, θ3, θ4 …θq of the
sources from the M snapshot of the array x(t1)… x(tM). In
other words what we are interested in is estimating the DOA’s
of emitter signals impinging on receiving array, when given a
finite data set {x(t)} observed over t=1, 2 … M. This will be
done basically by using the second-order statistics of
data”[5][8]

In order to solve this problem (to guarantee that there is a valid

solution) do we have to add conditions or assumptions on the
operational environment and\or the used model? Since there
are many parameters used to specify the system like the
number of sources, the number of array elements ...etc. are
there conditions that should be met first? Toward this goal we
want to make the following assumptions:[1][3][5]

1. The number of signals is known and is smaller than the

number of sensors, q<r.
2. The set of any q steering vectors is linearly independent.
3. Isotropic and non-dispersive medium – Uniform propagation
in all directions.
4. Zero mean white noise and signal, uncorrelated.
5. Far-Field.
a. Radius of propagation >> size of array.
b. Plane wave propagation.
Throughout this survey, it will be assumed that the number of
underlying signals, q, in the observed process is considered
known. There are, however, good and consistent techniques for
estimating this value even if it is not known.

Estimation techniques
In general, parameters estimation techniques can be classified
into: spectral based and parametric based methods. In the
former, one forms some spectrum-like function of the
parameter(s) of interest. The locations of the highest
(separated) peaks of the function in question are recorded as
the DOA estimates. Parametric techniques, on the other hand,
require a simultaneous search for all parameters of interest.
The basic advantage of using the parametric approach
comparing to the spectral based approach is the accuracy,
albeit at the expense of an increased computational
complexity.[1][3][5]

Spectral–based solutions

Spectral based algorithmic solutions can be further classified

into beamforming techniques and subspace-based techniques.
Beamforming technique

The first method used to specify and automatically localize the

signal sources using antenna arrays was the beamforming
technique. The idea behind beamforming is very simple: steer
the array in one direction at a time and measure the output
power. The steering locations where we have the maximum
power yield the DOA estimates. The array response is steered
by forming a linear combination of the sensor outputs.[3][5][8]
Approach overview

Where Rx is the sample covariance matrix. Different

beamforming approaches correspond to different choices of
the weighting vector F. The advantages of using beamforming
technique are the simplicity, easy to use and understand. While
the disadvantage of using this technique is the low resolution.

Subspace-based technique
Many spectral methods in the past have been called upon the
spectral decomposition of a covariance matrix to carry out the
analysis. A very important breakthrough came about when the
eigen-structure of the covariance matrix was explicitly invoked,
and its intrinsic properties were directly used to provide a
solution to an underlying estimation problem for a given
observed process. A class of spatial spectral estimation
techniques is based on the eigen-value decomposition of the
spatial covariance matrix. The rationale behind this approach is
that one wants to emphasize the choices for the steering vector
a(θ) which correspond to signal directions. The method
exploits the property that the directions of arrival determine the
eigen structure of the matrix.
The tremendous interest in the subspace based methods is
mainly due to the introduction of the MUSIC (Multiple Signal
Classification) algorithm. MUSIC was originally presented as a
DOA estimator, then it has been successfully brought back to
the spectral analysis/system identification problem with it is
later development.[3][5][8]

Approach overview
MUSIC spectrum approach use a single realization of the
stochastic process that is represent by the snapshots x (t), t=1,
2 …M. MUSIC estimates are consistent and they converge to
true source bearings as the number of snapshots grows to
infinity. A basic drawback of MUSIC approach is its sensitivity
to model errors. A costly procedure of calibration is required in
MUSIC and it is very sensitive to errors in the calibration
procedure. The cost of calibration increases as the number of
parameters that define the array manifold increases.

Parametric–based solutions

While the spectral-based methods presented in previous

section are computationally attractive, they do not always yield
sufficient accuracy. In particular, for the cases when we have
highly correlated signals, the performance of spectral-based
methods may be insufficient. An alternative is to more fully
exploit the underlying data model, leading to so-called
parametric array processing methods. The cost of using such
methods to increase the efficiency is that the algorithms
typically require a multidimensional search to find the
estimates. The most common used model based approach in
signal processing is the maximum likelihood (ML) technique.
This method requires a statistical framework for the data
generation process. When applying the ML technique to the
array processing problem, two main methods have been
considered depending on the signal data model assumption.
According to the Stochastic ML, the signals are modeled as
Gaussian random processes. On the other hand, in the
Deterministic ML the signals are considered as unknown,
deterministic quantities that need to be estimated in
conjunction with the direction of arrival.[3][5][8]

Stochastic ML approach

The stochastic maximum likelihood method is obtained by

modeling the signal waveforms as a Gaussian random process
under the assumption that the process x(t) is a stationary, zero-
mean, Gaussian process that is completely described by its
second-order covariance matrix. This model is a reasonable
one if the measurements are obtained by filtering wide-band
signals using a narrow band-pass filter.
Approach overview

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Deterministic ML approach
While the background and receiver noise in the assumed data
model can be thought of as emanating from a large number of
independent noise sources, the same is usually not the case for
the emitter signals. It therefore appears natural to model the
noise as a stationary Gaussian white random process whereas
the signal waveforms are deterministic (arbitrary) and
unknown. According to the Deterministic ML the signals are
considered as unknown, deterministic quantities that need to
be estimated in conjunction with the direction of arrival. This is
a natural model for digital communication applications where
the signals are far from being normal random variables, and
where estimation of the signal is of equal interest.[3][4]

Correlation spectrometer
The problem of computing pairwise correlation as a function of
frequency can be solved by two mathematically equivalent but
distinct ways. By using Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) it is
possible to analyze signals in the time domain as well as in the
spectral domain. The first The first approach is "XF" correlation
because it first cross-correlates antennas (the "X" operation)
using a time-domain "lag" convolution, and then computes the
spectrum (the "F" operation) for each resulting baseline. The
second approach "FX" takes advantage of the fact that
convolution is equivalent to multiplication in Fourier domain. It
first computes the spectrum for each individual antenna (the F
operation), and then multiplies pairwise all antennas for each
spectral channel (the X operation). A FX correlator has an
advantage over a XF correlators in that the computational
complexity is O(N2). Therefore, FX correlators are more efficient
for larger arrays.[10]

Correlation spectrometers like the Michelson interferometer

vary the time lag between signals obtain the power spectrum of
input signals. The power spectrum   of a signal is
related to the its autocorrelation function by a Fourier
transform:[11]

   
 

 
 
(I)

where the autocorrelation function   for signal X as a

function of time delay   is

   
 

 
 

(II)

Cross-correlation spectroscopy with spatial interferometry, is

possible by simply substituting a signal with voltage   in
equation Eq.II to produce the cross-correlation   and
the cross-spectrum   .

Example: spatial filtering

In radio astronomy, RF interference must be mitigated to detect
and observe any meaningful objects and events in the night
sky.

An array of radio telescopes with an incoming radio wave and RF interference

Projecting out the interferer

For an array of Radio Telescopes with a spatial signature of the

interfering source   that is not a known function of the
direction of interference and its time variance, the signal
covariance matrix takes the form:

 
where   is the visibilities covariance matrix (sources),   is
the power of the interferer, and   is the noise power, and  
denotes the Hermitian transpose. One can construct a
projection matrix   , which, when left and right multiplied by
the signal covariance matrix, will reduce the interference term
to zero.

So the modified signal covariance matrix becomes:

Since   is generally not known,   can be constructed using

the eigen-decomposition of   , in particular the matrix
containing an orthonormal basis of the noise subspace, which
is the orthogonal complement of   . The disadvantages to this
approach include altering the visibilities covariance matrix and
coloring the white noise term.[12]

Spatial whitening

This scheme attempts to make the interference-plus-noise term

spectrally white. To do this, left and right multiply   with
inverse square root factors of the interference-plus-noise
terms.

The calculation requires rigorous matrix manipulations, but

results in an expression of the form:

This approach requires much more computationally intensive

matrix manipulations, and again the visibilities covariance
matrix is altered.[13]

Subtraction of interference estimate

Since   is unknown, the best estimate is the dominant

eigenvector   of the eigen-decomposition of   ,
and likewise the best estimate of the interference power is
  , where   is the dominant eigenvalue of   .
One can subtract the interference term from the signal
covariance matrix:

 
By right and left multiplying   :

where   by selecting the appropriate   .

This scheme requires an accurate estimation of the
interference term, but does not alter the noise or sources
term.[14]

Summary
Array processing technique represents a breakthrough in signal
processing. Many applications and problems which are
solvable using array processing techniques are introduced. In
addition to these applications within the next few years the
number of applications that include a form of array signal
processing will increase. It is highly expected that the
importance of array processing will grow as the automation
becomes more common in industrial environment and
applications, further advances in digital signal processing and
digital signal processing systems will also support the high
computation requirements demanded by some of the
estimation techniques.
In this article we emphasized the importance of array
processing by listing the most important applications that
include a form of array processing techniques. We briefly
describe the different classifications of array processing,
spectral and parametric based approaches. Some of the most
important algorithms are covered, the advantage(s) and the
disadvantage(s) of these algorithms also explained and
discussed.

See also
Phased array
Space-time adaptive processing

References
1. Torlak, M. Spatial Array Processing . Signal and Image
Processing Seminar. University of Texas at Austin.
2. J Li, Peter Stoica (Eds) (2009). MIMO Radar Signal
Processing. USA: J Wiley&Sons.
3. Peter Stoica, R Moses (2005). Spectral Analysis of Signals
(PDF). NJ: Prentice Hall.

4. J Li, Peter Stoica (Eds) (2006). Robust Adaptive Beamforming.

USA: J Wiley&Sons.
5. Singh, Hema; Jha, RakeshMohan (2012), Trends in Adaptive
Array Processing
6. "About Us" . NORSAR. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
7. "Improving IMS array processing" . Norsar.no. Retrieved
2012-08-06.
8. Krim, Hamid; Viberg, Mats (1995), Sensor Array Signal
Processing: Two Decades Later
9. Zelinski, Rainer. "A microphone array with adaptive post-
filtering for noise reduction in reverberant rooms." Acoustics,
Speech, and Signal Processing, 1988. ICASSP-88., 1988
International Conference on. IEEE, 1988.
10. Parsons, Aaron; Backer, Donald; Siemion, Andrew
(September 12, 2008). "A Scalable Correlator Architecture Based
on Modular FPGA Hardware, Reuseable Gateware, and Data
Packetization". arXiv:0809.2266  . doi:10.1086/593053 .
11. Spectrometers for Heterodyne Detection Archived March 7,
2016, at the Wayback Machine. Andrew Harris
12. Jamil Raza; Albert-Jan Boonstra; Alle-Jan van der Veen
(February 2002). "Spatial Filtering of RF Interference in Radio
Astronomy". IEEE Signal Processing Letters. 9 (12): 64–67.
doi:10.1109/97.991140 .
13. Amir Leshem; Alle-Jan van der Veen (August 16, 2000).
"Radio astronomical imaging in the presence of strong radio
interference". IEEE Transactions on Information Theory. 46 (5):
1730–1747. arXiv:astro-ph/0008239  . doi:10.1109/18.857787 .
14. Amir Leshem; Albert-Jan Boonstra; Alle-Jan van der Veen
(November 2000). "Multichannel Interference Mitigation
Techniques in Radio Astronomy". Astrophysical Journal
Supplement Series. 131 (1): 355–373. arXiv:astro-ph/0005359  .
doi:10.1086/317360 .

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Processing. Prentice Hall.
Van Trees, H. L. (2002). Optimum Array Processing. New
York: Wiley.
Krim, H.; Viberg, M. (July 1996). "Two Decades of Array
Signal Processing Research" (PDF). IEEE Signal Processing
Magazine: 67–94. Retrieved 8 December 2010.
S. Haykin and K.J.R. Liu (Editors), "Handbook on Array
Processing and Sensor Networks", Adaptive and Learning
Systems for Signal Processing, Communications, and Control
Series, 2010.
 E. Tuncer and B. Friedlander (Editors), "Classical and Modern
Direction-of-Arrival Estimation", Academic Press, 2010.
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