Sparse nested linear array for direction of arrival estimation

Abstract In this paper, we provide an approach to perform direction of arrival (DOA) estimation with the hole-free part of difference coarray, including the physical sparse uniform linear array (ULA) itself. The sparse two-level nested linear array (NLA), whose inter-element spacings are all enlarged by the identical rate compared with the conventional two-level NLA, is selected as the example to present our work due to the typicalness, under-determinedness and the relatively obvious mutual coupling effect. The difference coarray of the sparse two-level NLA is a sparse ULA and the existing methods can not be exploited for it. We derive the sparse uniform linear array discrete Fourier transform (SULA-DFT) algorithm based on the original DFT method to extend its application from only conventional ULA to sparse ULA to solve this problem. With the SULA-DFT, reliable estimation for positive angle within a limited range under a constraint condition between angle and sparsity of array is able to be obtained directly without any ambiguous angle. Compared with the conventional two-level NLA and many other state of the art configurations, the sparse two-level NLA is able to get least mutual coupling effect and largest array aperture and the SULA-DFT often obtain better estimation accuracy with the sparse two-level NLA. On the whole, sparse two-level NLA with more sparsity gets better estimation accuracy. The numerical simulations verify the superiority of the SULA-DFT with the sparse two-level NLA.