Modal decomposition for detection of plane waves with a line array receiver

The ability of parametric array processing methods to detect and locate plane wave arrivals is inherently limited by the stability of the estimates of the covariance properties of the field. This paper presents an analysis of the performance of one such method, Modal Decomposition, under the constraint of finite observation time. Four methods for obtaining estimates of the model parameters are demonstrated and the resultant parameter stability for simple field models is examined via simulation.