Behaviour of the SAGE algorithm in a two dimensional multi-user environment

This study investigates the behaviour of the Space Alternating Generalised Expectation maximisation (SAGE) algorithm in two dimensions and in a multipath environment. This optimisation algorithm is used to replace the high dimensional optimisation procedure necessary to compute the joint maximum likelihood estimate of the parameters by several separate maximisation processes which can be performed sequentially. In this paper, the relative delay, the azimuth angle and the complex amplitude of the waves are calculated. Convergence and performance analysis are based on numerical simulations. We calculate the resolution, the convergence speed and the bit error rate (BER) as function of the signal to noise ratio (SNR). The investigations demonstrate that the SAGE algorithm is a powerful tool that can be successfully applied for parameter extraction with high resolution