Statistical performance analysis of the minimum-norm method

The performance of the minimum-norm method, both root and spectral forms, for estimating the direction of arrival (DOA) of plane waves in white noise is analysed for the case of a linear equispaced sensor array. In particular, asymptotic results for the mean squared error in the estimates of the direction of arrival are derived. Simple closed-form expressions are derived for the one and two source case to get further insight. Computer simulations are provided to substantiate the analysis. The results obtained are compared to those for root-MUSIC and it is shown that the relative performance of the two methods is directly dependent on the ratio of their parameter sensitivities.