Estimation of 2D-DOAs and angular spreads for coherently distributed sources using cumulants

In this paper, a new 2D-DOAs and angular spreads estimation algorithm is proposed for coherently distributed (CD) sources. Based on the newly designed array geometry, multiple CD sources model is developed. The respectively azimuth DOAs, elevation DOAs and their angular spreads of CD sources can be estimated by the proposed LS-VESPA-based algorithm, which first compute the cumulants using the specially designed guiding sensors, then estimate the invariance structured matrix by LS-VESPA algorithm, and finally obtain the parameters from the phase information and the module information of the approximation closed form of the steering vectors. The efficiency of the algorithm is validated by computer simulations.