Joint estimation of mutual coupling matrix and direction-of-arrival in linear arrays

The effect of mutual coupling in linear arrays blocks the estimation of the directions of the incident signals. A new method that focuses on jointly estimating the mutual coupling matrix and direction-of-arrival (DOA), with less computational cost and better robustness, is proposed by considering the characteristics of the mutual impedances in linear arrays. The new method is then extended to general linear arrays, solving the problem of bearing estimation in narrowband linear arrays in the presence of mutual coupling. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the improvement in the performance of the new joint estimation method in uniform linear arrays and the availability in general linear arrays.