Direction finding for wide-band signals using an interpolated array

The authors derive a new direction-finding algorithm for multiple wideband signals received by an arbitrary array and analyze its performance. Using an interpolation technique, they generate a set of virtual arrays, each for a different frequency band, having the same array manifold. The convergence matrices of these arrays are added to produce a composite covariance matrix. Direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimates are obtained by eigendecomposition of this composite covariance matrix using the narrowband MUSIC algorithm or its variants. Closed-form expressions for the asymptotic covariance matrix of the DOA estimation errors are derived using a perturbation analysis, evaluated for specific cases, and compared with the Cramer-Rao lower bound. Special attention is given to correlated and coherent signals. The formulas for the error covariance are quite general and can be modified to provide results for other wideband DOA estimation algorithms