Array shape calibration using sources in unknown locations-a maximum likelihood approach

Sensor location uncertainty can severely degrade the performance of direction-finding systems. An iterative maximum-likelihood method for simultaneously estimating directions of arrival (DOA) and sensor locations is developed to alleviate this problem. The case of nondisjoint sources, i.e., sources observed in the same frequency cell and at the same time, is emphasized. The algorithm converges to the global maximum of the likelihood function if the initial conditions are sufficiently good. Numerical examples are presented, illustrating the performance of the proposed technique. A distinctive feature of the algorithm is its ability to locate the sensors accurately without deploying calibration sources at known locations