Antennas and Propagation

Chapter 5c: Array Signal Processing

and Parametric Estimation Techniques
Introduction

Time-domain Signal Processing

Fourier spectral analysis
Identify important frequency-content of signal
Matched/Wiener Filter
Optimize signal to noise ratio of output (known signal / noise cov.)

Array Signal Processing

Exploit spatial dimension similar to time-domain SP

This Lecture
Classical methods: direct extensions of time-domain SP
Parametric (superresolution) methods
Main Resource: Krim / Viberg paper
Antennas and Propagation Slide 2 Chapter 5c
Array Signal Processing

Direction of Arrival Estimation

Waves arriving from different directions
Induce different phase shifts across array
Fourier-type analysis: Identify different spatial frequencies

Optimal (Linear) Beamforming

Wiener / Matched-filtering in spatial domain

Limitations of Linear Methods

Performance limited by size of aperture
(regardless of SNR / number of samples)
Nonlinear (superresolution) methods

Antennas and Propagation Slide 3 Chapter 5c

Signal Model

Narrowband signal:
Signal received at origin
Signal on the array:

Narrowband Assumption
Changes in s(t)
appear simultaneously on array

Antennas and Propagation Slide 4 Chapter 5c

Signal Model (2)

Restrict attention to xy plane

Signal

Ant. Coords

Collect signals from L antennas

“Steering Vector”

Antennas and Propagation Slide 5 Chapter 5c

Signal Model (3)

Steering vector for a ULA

Multiple signals

are baseband waveforms

More compact form

Steering matrix

Vector of signal waveforms

Presence of additive noise

Antennas and Propagation Slide 6 Chapter 5c

Assumptions

Exploit spatial dimension: Spatial covariance matrix

Source covariance

Noise covariance

Assuming noise is “white” or uncorrelated from one sensor to the next

Assume P is non-singular matrix (e.g. uncorrelated signals)

Antennas and Propagation Slide 7 Chapter 5c

Signal / Noise Subspaces

Suppose that L > M (more antennas than signals)

Can partition R according to

Signal Subspace Noise Subspace

Note: Columns of Us span range space of A
Columns of Un span its orthogonal complement (null space)

Projection Operators

Antennas and Propagation Slide 8 Chapter 5c

Problem Statement

Estimating DOAs
Find θm for each of the incoming signals
Given a finite set of observations {x(t)}
Note: In practice have only estimates

Assumption: Know M or how many signals present

Estimating Signals
Recover signals s(t) once DOAs known

Antennas and Propagation Slide 9 Chapter 5c

Summary of Estimators

Definitions
Coherent signals
Signals that are scaled/delayed versions of each other

Consistency
Estimate converges to true value for infinite data

Statistical efficiency
Asymptotically attains CRB (lower bound on covariance matrix of any
unbiased estimator)

Antennas and Propagation Slide 10 Chapter 5c

Summary of Estimators (2)

Antennas and Propagation Slide 11 Chapter 5c

Spectral-Based vs. Parametric

Spectral
Form a function of parameter of interest (DOA)
Sweep that function with respect to some parameter
Identify peaks
Typically a 1D search. Find DOAs independently

Parametric
Simultaneous search of all parameters
Higher accuracy
Increased complexity

Antennas and Propagation Slide 12 Chapter 5c

Spectral-Based Methods
θ1
Beamforming Sources
θ2
“Steer” a beam and measure output power
Peaks give DOA estimates

Linear beamformer θ0 =
steering
angle

Power
θ1 θ2
θ0

Antennas and Propagation Slide 13 Chapter 5c

Bartlett Beamformer

Same as uniform excitation we saw before

Maximize power collected from look angle θ

For a ULA

Resolution approximately 100º/L

Antennas and Propagation Slide 14 Chapter 5c

Bartlett Beamformer (2)

Example
L=10 Elements, λ/2 spacing
Resolution of standard ULA approximately 100º/L = 10º
(Obtain from HPBW expression)

Antennas and Propagation Slide 15 Chapter 5c

Bartlett Beamformer (3)

Advantages
Simple
Robust

Disadvantages
Resolution is limited
Interference of close-by arrivals
Strong side lobes

Antennas and Propagation Slide 16 Chapter 5c

Capon’s Beamformer

Revised problem

Minimize total power collected

Maintain gain in “look direction” θ to be 1
What does this mean?
Like a sharp spatial bandpass filter

Reduce interference from directions other than θ when we are

looking in direction θ

Antennas and Propagation Slide 17 Chapter 5c

Capon’s Beamformer (2)

Solution

Antennas and Propagation Slide 18 Chapter 5c

Capon’s Beamformer (3)

Advantage
Provides much narrower main beam. How?
Nulls directions that are near look direction

Disadvantages
Sacrifice some noise performance
Also, can be unstable (consider inverse)
Resolution still depends on aperture size and SNR

Antennas and Propagation Slide 19 Chapter 5c

Subspace-Based Methods

MUSIC (Multiple Signal Classification)

Introduced by R. Schmidt in 1980
Breakthrough in DOA Estimation
Exploit structure of signal/noise subspaces
Resolution no longer depend on array size

Antennas and Propagation Slide 20 Chapter 5c

MUSIC

Decompose covariance with EVD

Assume P to be full rank, A (LxM) is “tall” (L>M)

Us and A span same (column) subspace
Un spans the orthogonal complement of Us
⇒ Each vector in A is orthogonal to Un

Idea: Sweep θ and see where this goes to 0.

Music spectrum:

Exhibits peaks when θ is a DOA.

Antennas and Propagation Slide 21 Chapter 5c

Comparison: Spectral-based Methods

Parameters:
L = 10
d = λ/2
M = 200 samples

Antennas and Propagation Slide 22 Chapter 5c

Coherent Signals

Problem
Signals are correlated with each other
P is no longer full rank
MUSIC spectrum will not exhibit peaks
Example?
Multipath

Techniques to Decorrelate signals

ULA
Forward-backward averaging
Spatial smoothing

Antennas and Propagation Slide 23 Chapter 5c

Forward-Backward Averaging

Reverse signals in x vector (reverse antennas)

followed by complex conjugate

Introduces a unique phase shift for each steering vector (or source)
Can treat as another sample of the same signal
But phase shift introduces decorrelation

Antennas and Propagation Slide 24 Chapter 5c

Forward-Backward Averaging (2)

Including backward signals in our covariance estimate

Consider: pairs of sources are correlated

New effective source covariance not correlated

Antennas and Propagation Slide 25 Chapter 5c

Spatial Smoothing

Idea
Related to FB averaging
Form multiple looks of sources by shifting the array
This shifts each steering vector (source) by a different phase
Relative phases in each steering vector
are preserved (shift invariance)

Spatial smooth by factor N to

decorrelate N sources

Antennas and Propagation Slide 26 Chapter 5c

Parametric Methods

Drawback of Spectral Methods

May be inaccurate (e.g. correlated signals)

Parametric Methods
Fully exploit the underlying data model
Powerful, but in general require multi-dimensional search
Exception: For ULA can exploit model without search

Variants
ML (deterministic or stochastic)
Subspace fitting
Root MUSIC
ESPRIT

Antennas and Propagation Slide 27 Chapter 5c

Deterministic Maximum Likelihood

Assume
Zero-Mean, White Gaussian Noise
pdf of observed signal (complex Gaussian)

Form Likelihood Function

If noise is uncorrelated between samples

Likelihood of observing x(t) = As(t) + n(t) given noise, DOAs, signals

Idea
Find DOAs / signals that make observed x(t) as likely as possible

Antennas and Propagation Slide 28 Chapter 5c

Deterministic Maximum Likelihood (2)

(Negative) Log-Likelihood Function

Minima satisfy

Projection Sample Pseudo-

onto null- covariance inverse of A
space of A

Substituting into Log-Likelihood

Minimum:
Make σ as small as possible
Interpretation?
When we remove DOAs exactly, resulting power is minimal

Antennas and Propagation Slide 29 Chapter 5c

Deterministic Maximum Likelihood (3)

How do we minimize?

Requires a multidimensional search (numerical)

Becomes very complicated for large M

Acceleration method
Find an initial guess with spectral method
Followed by local optimizer

Antennas and Propagation Slide 30 Chapter 5c

Parametric Methods for ULAs

Uniform Linear Arrays

Steering matrix has Vandermonde structure
Can exploit this strcuture
Allows close to ML estimate to be found without searching

ESPRIT
Estimation of Signal Parameters by Rotation Invariant Techniques
Uses the shift-invariance property of A

Antennas and Propagation Slide 31 Chapter 5c

ESPRIT

Recall the EVD of R

Steering matrix for ULA

Vandermonde Matrix

Antennas and Propagation Slide 32 Chapter 5c

ESPRIT (2)

Shift property of A

Can find a direct method to get Φ

P is full rank, span of Us and A same,

which means

For some invertible matrix T

Antennas and Propagation Slide 33 Chapter 5c

ESPRIT (3)

Consider relationship of Ψ and Φ

Similar matricies⇒ Have same eigenvalues

Antennas and Propagation Slide 34 Chapter 5c

ESPRIT (4)

Tasks
Solve for Ψ How do we solve this?

Compute eigenvalues to get Φ ⇒ φ1, φ2, ...

Compute DOAs using

Antennas and Propagation Slide 35 Chapter 5c

Total Least Squares (TLS)

Want to find A that solves (X,Y tall, A is N x N)

Form N dimensional orthogonal basis
that best spans both X and Y

In the N-dimensional subspace,

can now equate

Antennas and Propagation Slide 36 Chapter 5c

Summary

Array Signal Processing

Like filtering, but in spatial dimension
Can enhance signals
Estimate locations of sources

Spectral-based Methods
Beamforming (Bartlett, Capon)
Subpace-based Method (MUSIC)

Parametric Methods
Directly exploit underlying signal model
DML
ESPRIT

Antennas and Propagation Slide 37 Chapter 5c