Improved MUSIC algorithm for DOA estimation of coherent signals via Toeplitz and fourth-order-cumulants

In this paper we propose an improved MUSIC (Multiple Signal Classification) algorithm applicable for direction of arrival (DOA) estimation of coherent signals in the presence of one-dimensional uniform linear array (ULA), which is based on Toeplitz matrix theory and Fourth-order-cumulants (Foc). In the signal model, a new Toeplitz construction method combining SVD (singular value decomposition) with mean calculation is explored to reconstruct the covariance matrix of array output. The DOA estimation problem can be addressed when the covariance matrix is full-rank. Foc theory is used to eliminate the Gaussian noise in the signals, after that the space of the array matrix is changed, which determines the final signal subspace and noise subspace. According to the subspace, we can adopt the conventional MUSIC to estimate the DOAs of coherent signals. Simulation results show that this algorithm provides a significant performance in comparison with other de-correlation algorithms. It has a better resolution under the condition of small angle interval. In addition, a lower root-mean-square error (RMSE) is obtained at low signal-to-noise (SNR) situation. © 2015 SERSC.