US5.5 DIRECTION FINDING USING AN INTERPOLATED ARRAY Benjamin Friedlander Signal Processing Technology, Ltd 703 Coastland Drive Palo Alto, CA 94808 USA Abstract ‘A direction finding technique is developed which uses the outputs of a virtual array, computed from the real array using a linear interpolation procedure. The ‘geometry of the virtual array is under the control of the ‘designer. By using a linesr virtual array we develop an extension of the root-MUSIC algorithm to arbitrary ar ray geometries. 1, Introduction Direction finding systems employ multiple sensors arranged in various geometrical configurations. Array ‘geometry affects various aspects of the direction finding system such as resolution, sensitivity to system errors (4) land the type of processing used to produce direction-of ‘arrival (DOA) eatimates (techniques suchas root-MUSIC. [2] and the Maximum Entropy Method [3], for example, require uniformly spaced linear arrays) Array geometry is oRen determined by considers tions which are not directly related to the requirements of the direction finding system, such as the size and shape of the platform on which the array is mounted, for other mechanical and structural considerations. The frray geometry resulting ftom these physical constraints is not always the best geometry for the problem. Jn this paper we propose an approach which at tempts to separate to some extent the system design issues from the physical locations of the array elements ‘This approach is based on the idea of estimating the OAs from the outputs of a “virtual array.” rather than from the outputs of the real array. These outputs are obtained by a linear interpolation technique, with the interpolator coefficients selected go as to minimize the in- terpolation error for signals arriving from a given sector (ie. a range of bearing angles). Different sats of interpo- lator coefficients will be used to provide good estimates, for different sectors. The design ofthe interpolator needs to be performed only once, and can be done off-line, ‘The interpolation approach requires that the loca ‘ions of the eal array elements satisfy the sampling the- orem, In general this means that the elements must be 7 This work was rupported by the Army Research Ofc under cana nov DAALAE-96-C-007. less than half a wavelength apart. This requirement is satisfied by many arrays encountered in practice. Given measurements of the real array outputs, the interpolator can be used in principle to compute the outputs of the virtual array. (Actually, several sets of ‘outputs are computed, one per sector). Any direction finding technique can then be applied to the outputs of, the virtual rather than the real array. In most cases it is not really necessary to compute the virtual array ‘outputs. Most of the so-called high-resolution direction finding methods such ae MUSIC [I], are based on the covariance matrix of the received signals. As we will show, it i possible to compute the covariance matric of the virtual array directly from the covariance matrix of the real array. Avoiding the computation of the virtual array outputs has both computational and numerical ad vantages. ‘The interpolated array concept is quite general and ‘ean be used to address a variety of issues related to diree- tion finding, including: extending the root-MUSIC algo- rithm to arbitrary array geometries; interpolated spatial smoothing for direction finding in the presence of multi- path (]; direction finding for broadband signals (6), and improving the robustness of an array to modeling etors [6]. In this paper we address the fist ofthese issues Root-MUSIC [2] is @ variant of the MUSIC alge- rithin{I] which has some useful properties. The conven tional MUSIC algorithm requires a computationally in tensive search procedure for estimating the directions of artval of the various signals. Root MUSIC on the other hhand, is based on finding the roots of a polynomial of or- der 2(M —1), where Mis the number of sensors, which requites a much smaller amount of computation. In ad dition to its computational advantages, the root-MUSIC. algorithm often performs better than the conventional [MUSIC algorithm [7], and is less sensitive to certain sys tem errors [6]. ‘The main drawback of toot MUSIC is that its use is restricted to linear uniformly-spaced arrays with pre- cisely matched omnidirectional sensor ‘greatly limits ite usefulness, Here we show that by using an “ideal” linear uniformly spaced virtual array, we are able 2051 (CH2847-2/90/0000-2951 $1.00 © 1990 IEEEto apply root-MUSIC to arbitrary arrays with non-ideal array manifolds. (However, since linear arrays provide DOA estimates in one dimension only, the ability of a general two-dimensional array to estimate both azimuth fand elevation angles will be lost when using this tech- nique), ‘The structure of this paper is as follows. In section 2 we formulate the problem, introduce the necessary no- tation, and review briefly MUSIC and root-MUSIC. In section 3 we describe the interpolated array approach and discuss some of ite properties, 2. Problem Formulation Consider N radiating narrowband sources observed by an arbitrary arcay of M sensors. Let X(j) denote the AM x 1 vector of the signals at the array clement out= puts (after Fourier transformation and selection of the ‘appropriate frequency bin). ‘The received signal vector ‘ean then be written as: XU)=A-SU)+VG) a where 8(j) is the 1x 1 vector of radiated signals, V(j) is the MX 1 vector of measurement noise, and A= (AQ) AQa) Aw). @ where the so-called array manifold A(7) is the vector of the array element outputs for a unitenergy source located in direction 7, and where jy is the Direction of Arrival (DOA) of the n-th source The direction finding problem can now be stated as follows: Given data (X(j)]7-y estimate the unknown directions of arrival (0 ‘The MUSIC Algoritha MUSIC and related algorithms are based on the properties ofthe covariance matrix ofthe vector of re feived signals. The covariance matrices of the signal, noise and observation vectors are given by R= BIS), B= EVV"), Oy R= B(XX") = ARAM 40°D, where ()/" represents the Hermitian transpose opers- tion. ‘The MUSIC slgorithm proceeds as fllows: we form the sample covariance mattix of X(j) and perform its igen-decompesition: R= Ex" vA" a Let = [GaGa], where the columns of O, ae the eigen ‘vectors corresponding tothe N largest eigenvalues of ind where Uy conttne the remaining eigenvectors. The subspaces spanned by the colunine of U, and U, are called the “Signal subapace”, and the “noise subepace”, respectively. To estimate (yu}f=1 we search for the N Target peaks ofthe “spectrum™ St) 2 NGAGE 6 ‘or equivalently, the smallest nulls of Den) 6 ACIP @ ‘The root-MUSIC Algorithm [Next we consider the special case of a linear uni formly spaced array with omni-directional sensors with Unit gain and zero phase. With no los of generality we ‘assume that the array is located on the a-axis. ‘The array ‘manifold of this “ideal” array is given by [Le PHP Io, eR DU4D DoT mo rhe isthe wavelength ofthe receive signal, and d i the clement spacing ‘The rool-MUSIC algorithm proceds exactly a the MUSIC algeritim upto the pln of computing the nulls cf D(7). Tat ws define complex variable = sch hat Ag) eeessp ny ® ‘Then (7) can be rewritten as Al) @ It is straightforward to check that the “null spectrum’ Dis) =I108 AGP Deg MA ot Dot a (00) + Du has a conjugate symmetry property, ie. Dom let pati, ay ‘denote the roots ofthis polynomial which are inside or on the unit ciele. (Due to the conjugate symmetry of the polynomial (2), its roots come in pairs where one root is the conjugate reciprocal of the other. We select only one of each ofthese pairs). Let us order the roots so that 1> py > pa 2-0 pur-ay and let Fn, m= yoo be defined by sing an” eel 2952‘Then jy are the DOA estimates of root-MUSIC. In other words, the DOA estimates are simple functions of the tangles of the IV roots closest to the unit circle 3, The Interpolated Array Technique In this eection we discuss briefly how to design the interpolated array and how to use it to produce DOA estimates Designing the Interpolated Array ‘The design of the interpolated array involves two basic decisions: where to locate the “virtual elements”, and where to place the sector boundaries, The following is astep-by-step description of what needs to be done to accomplish these tasks. (a) The fst step in designing an interpolated acy is to\dvide the held of view ofthe array nt Lsetors For extnpe ifthe ldo view a can be vided Into @sotryof Seach, The €h sector etn by the interval [2] (2) Next we define a sot of angles x= [ol 60 +.00,00" +208,....0] , (3) for each sector. ‘These angles are used only in the design of the interpolation matrix. (3) Compute the steering vectors associated with the set Gy for the given array and arrange them in a matrix as follows At [aoe ..-.a(0?)] Tn other words Ay is @ section of the array manifold of, the teal array. as) Next we decide where we to place the “virtual ele ments” of the interpolated array. In this paper we always ‘assume that the virtual array is @ uniformly spaced li fear array; However, there are many other possible ways ‘of placing the virtual array and its optimal placement is ‘an open question at this time. As a “rule of thumb” we place the array so that the viewua elements are as close fs possible to the real elements. ‘The total aperture of the array is adjusted to be approximately equal to that of the real array. (4) Having decided on the element locations we ean row compute the array manifold of the interpolated ar. tay. We denote by e the section ofthis array manifold computed for the set of angles Gy as) ftet),....a102)] In other words Aci the response of the real array tosig- nals arriving from directions @, and Ae isthe response of the interpolated array to the same signals. (6) Our basic assumption is that the array manifold of the virtual array can be obtained by linear interpela- tion of the array manifold of the real array, within each sector &. In other words, we assume that there exists a ‘constant matrix By such that BrAr= Ae (18) (Of course, the interpolation is not exact and therefore the equality above does not realy hold. The “best” in- terpolation matrix isthe one which will give the best fit ‘between the interpolated response BA and the desired response Ae. In other words, the transformation matrix 2B is computed as the least squares solution of (16) (6) To assess the accuracy of the interpolator we compute the Frobenius norm of (Ae ~ BcAc), and com- pare it to the norm of Ae. Ifthe ratio of the ertor norm to the array manifold norm is sufficiently small, we ac- cept the current design. Otherwise, we go back to step 1) and reduce the sie of the sector. It is always possi- ble to achieve accurate interpolation by choosing a small ‘enough sector. However, our hope is that we ean obtain the required accuracy while keeping the sector size fairly large, since we want to minimize the number of sectors required to cover the field of view. In our experiments vee found that a small numberof sectors (say < 10) was ‘bdequatein all the cases we considered so fat. Typically ‘ve designed the aay s0 that Ac— BrAulle Alle was on the order of 10°? or smaller, ‘The result of the procedure outlined above is set cf interpolation matrices {B). ‘These interpolation ma- trices need to be computed only once for any given arzay, and the computation can be done off-ine. Inthe fllowing we will drop the sector index & for notational convenience, It should be understood that ‘ay quantities involving the interpolation matrix B need to be re-computed for each sector. Direction Finding with the Interpolated Array Given the interpolation matt we can compute the covariance (or sume covariance) matix of the ‘irtual array from the coveiance (or sample covariance) Instr Rf the real are R= BRB" From (3) it follows that co AY + 07By (is) B= BARA" B" +0? BD9BY = ER, 2953here Hy = BEpB" is a known matrix. The covaiance tmatrix lt corresponds to the array manifold A of a uni- formly spaced linear array. ‘Therefore, we can apply the root-MUSIC algorithm to the covariance matt F, of rather, tothe sample covariance matrix B2 Bien Instead of computing the covariance matrix of the virtual array, it ie possible to compute dizectly its signal subspace. Let U, denote the signal subspace of the real array. Then U, = 20, as) spans the signal subspace ofthe interpolated array. The noise subspace U of the interpolated array can be found by computing the subepace orthogonal to U,. This ot AGogonal subspace ean be computed in many diferent vaya. For example: perform » QR. decomposition ofthe MN matsix Us; The fist N columas of@ span the sig tal subspace, while the remaining M-— ¥ columns span Ae noise subepace, This noise aubypace ia then wed to compute the oot-MUSIC polynomial (ef (10). ‘The root-MUSIC algorithm will produce a set of DOA estimates for each sector. In practice we produce these estimates by setting a threshold pr and selecting all the roots with radii 1 p > pr. We set the threshold sufficiently low so that with very high probability the number of selected roots will equal or exceed the true number of signals within that sector. Let us denote the number of DOA estimates pro- duced in this manner for sector £ by I). In other words, we end up with a set of “candidate DOA esti- mates" (59, MO, €= yoo EP ‘Toget the inal DOA estimates {n= y=, ND, wwe need to select a subset of these DOAs, We do this In two see. Ft we elinate all the DOA estimates which faloutside ti sector In other word, we wl een 49 only if < 3f0 < AP. OF the remaining stimates we tele the W'DOAs corenponding to rots with the largest radia our fl eta, ‘This process of selecting the final DOA estimates, appears to work quite well. However, it may sometimes happen that one or more wrong choices are made (¢.9. if the root associated with a source DOA has a radius smaller than that of a spurious root) Discussion, It should be noted that the original form of the root- MUSIC algorithm [2] is likely to encounter difficulties ‘even in the case of linear uniformly spaced arrays. In Practice the array manifolds of such arrays do not con form to the simple model of equation (7). ‘The differ- ent array elements may have different gains and phases which maybe dependent on. I this cae the inteepo- Tnton matrix can be used to coret for any differences Beteen the real array manifold A(7), which may be reared during the array calibration proces, and the ideal array manifold of (2). In other words the inter- polation technique can be used as a way of ineluding {slibration ta in rot-MUSIC estimates ‘The performance ofthe interpolated array technique ‘was evaluated in [6] by @ combination of analysis and computer simulation. Due to space limitations we omit, the details of this evaluation. We note, however, that in general the interpolated array approach performed as well as the MUSIC algorithm which was applied to the real array. As long asthe virtual elements are sufficiently close to the real elements, the interpolation process docs not appear to degrade DOA estimation accuracy, while ‘making it possible to use the computationally attractive root- MUSIC algorthen Finally we note that some care needs to be taken to hhandle sources appearing near sector boundaries. Some times it is advantageous to design overlapping sectors. This and other sector related issues are discussed in [6 References i] RO. Schmidt, “Multiple Emitter Location and Sig nal Parameter Estimation,” IEEE Trans, Anfernas ‘and Propag, vol. AP-34, no. 3, pp. 276-380, March 1986. A.J. Barabell, “Improving the Resolution Perfor- mance of Eigenstructure Based Direction Finding Algorithms,” Tnt'l Conf. on Acousties Speech and Signal Processing, Boston, MA, pp. 338-830, 1088, W. F. Gabrial, “Spectral Analysis and Adaptive Ar- ray Superresolution Techniques,” Proc. IBEE, vol 68, pp. 654-666, June 1980, B. Friedlander, “A Sensitivity Analysis of the MU- SIC Algorithm,” IEEE Transactions on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, to appear, B. Friedlander and A. J. Weiss, “Direction Finding for Correlated Signals Using Spatial Smoothing with Interpolated Arrays,” submitted for publication B. Friedlander and A. J. Weiss, “Direction Finding Using Interpolated Arrays,” Report SPT-89-001- NE, Signal Processing Technology, February 1990, B.D. Rao and K. V. S, Hari, "Performance Analysis of Root-MUSIC,” IEER Trans. Acoustics Speech and Signal Processing, December 1989, a 6) a] 6) ic) a 2954