An algorithm of conformal array DOA estimation with unknown source number

In order to solve the problem that most of the directions-of-arrival (DOA) algorithms are based on the prior knowledge of source number and the estimation error of source number leads to the degradation of DOA algorithm performance, a conformal array DOA algorithm with unknown source number is proposed. This method is realized by introducing the pseudo expected signal. The optimum weight deduced by the Maximum signal to inference and noise ratio (SINR) is applied to the received signal and the pseudo expected signal then the conformal array output signal to noise ratio (SNR) is regarded as the parameter of DOA to accomplish the estimation. During the processing the estimation of source number is avoided. The validity of the algorithm is verified by the simulation experiments. The simulation results show that the algorithm is effective and be superior to multiple signal classification (MUSIC) algorithm.