High resolution delay estimation

The resolution and estimation of delay parameters for overlapping signals with a priori known shape emitter is investigated. Previously, many researches in delay estimation methods have concentrated on deconvolution, especially on adaptive deconvolution. However, it is well known that the minimum resolvable delay in deconvolution methods is the sampling interval of the original data. Two kinds of high resolution delay estimation methods are presented. One is delay-frequency estimation methods, another is the eigenstructure methods for delay estimation. It is also shown that these two methods can resolve delays spaced closer than one sampling interval. The principle and characteristics of these two methods are described, and computer simulation results are given. Finally, a summarized table is listed to show the performance of various delay estimators.<>