The frequency estimation of harmonic signals embedded in multiplicative and additive noise

A method to separate a harmonic signal from multiplicative and additive noises is proposed. The method is to square the signal x(t), which consists of a harmonic signal embedded in multiplicative and additive noises, to form another signal y(t) = x2(t)-E[x2(t)]. After y(t) having been gotten, the Fourier transform is imposed on it. Because the information of x(t) (especially about frequency) is included in y(t), the frequency of x(t) can be estimated from the power spectrum of y(t). According to the simulation, under the condition where frequencies divided by resolution dω are integer, the maximum relative error of estimated frequencies is less than 0.4% when the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is greater than -23 dB. If frequencies divided by resolution dω are not integer, the maximum relative error will be less than 2.9%. But it is still small in terms of engineering.