Source detection in the presence of nonuniform noise

We consider the problem of source number estimation in the presence of unknown spatially nonuniform noise. Successive array element suppression is applied to isolate the contribution of the noise powers and a likelihood function is derived. When it is combined with the appropriately defined penalty function, a MDL-like criterion is defined. Performance of the new criterion is assessed through simulations and it is shown that the method is powerful in a nonuniform noise environment.