Robust spatial time-frequency distribution matrix estimation with application to direction-of-arrival estimation

We consider the problem of estimating spatial time-frequency distribution (STFD) matrices in the presence of impulsive noise. STFD matrices are widely used in sensor array processing for direction-of-arrival estimation and blind source separation of non-stationary sources. Conventional methods fail when the noise is non-Gaussian or impulsive. We propose robust techniques for STFD estimation which are based on pre-processing, robust position based estimation and robust covariance based estimation. The proposed methods are compared in terms of direction-of-arrival estimation performance.

► We propose robust STFD matrix estimation for DOA estimation of FM sources. ► The methods are classified as pre-processing, robust position and non-iterative. ► These proposed estimators provide significant improvement for DOA estimation in impulsive noise.