On smoothed rank profile tests in eigenstructure approach to directions-of-arrival estimation

We propose a statistical procedure known as the smoothed rank profile (SRP) test that can be applied to an array covariance matrix to determine the source coherency structure and solvability of the directions-of-arrival estimation problem in the presence of coherent sources. The SRP is the rank profile of a telescoping series of matrices extracted from the observed array covariance matrix. Results of computer simulations are presented that verify the efficacy of the proposed test.