A fast and simple nonlinear technique for high‐resolution beamforming and spectral analysis

A simple and fast approximate technique is presented that can generate high‐resolution spectra from the output of a conventional processor (i.e., beamformer or spectrum analyzer). The speed and simplicity of the algorithm results from two factors: the input data of the system are not used, only the conventional output data; the significant mathematical operations are simple additions and subtractions of log‐transformed quantities, which make the technique nonlinear in power and avoids matrix inversions. As a result, the technique is extremely robust, being relatively insensitive to system and measurement errors. The algorithm is explained and results are presented for both modeled and measured data.