DOA estimation based on time-frequency maximum likelihood

An algorithm is presented for Direction-Of-Arrival (DOA) estimation of nonstationary signals impinging on the antenna array. The proposed method establishes a simplified array signal model in the time-frequency (t-f) domain by evaluating the cross Pseudo Wigner-Ville Distributions (PWVD) between the outputs of the reference element and other elements of the array, and provides a signal selective DOA estimator based on the t-f maximum likelihood. Compared with the Spatial Time-Frequency Distributions (STFD) matrices-based methods, the proposed method can make full use of the crossterms in the t-f plane, and the computational load is significantly reduced. Simulations are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the method.