DOA Estimation Error and Resolution Loss in Linear Sensor Array

In order to estimate the direction of signal arrival (DOA) precisely, array of sensors is widely used to enhance resolution and accuracy of the results. For subspace-based algorithms, array sensors' position error may severely influence the estimation result since it changes the array in manifold. In this paper, we provide an improved DOA estimation method for general linear sensor array so that the effect of position error is minimized. We analytically present the relationship between sensor position error and the array's minimum resolution. Simulation results show that the new method does enhance the accuracy of the DOA estimation and the array resolution is determined by both the number of array sensors and the position error.