Ambiguity resolving in parameter estimation of a single near-field source with uniform circular array via clustering

In order to resolve the phase ambiguity in parameter estimation of a high frequency source with uniform circular array (UCA), this paper presents an algorithm via clustering to obtain the source's 3-D parameters (azimuth angle, elevation angle, and range) unambiguously. By computing the phase differences between centro-symmetric sensors and employing some mathematics, angle parameters of the source can be decoupled and be estimated. Then, a plural matrix is developed based on ambiguity search, where each column includes a plural constituted by real angle parameters. Further, the unambiguous angle parameters can be obtained by the means of clustering based on range. A one dimension MUSIC method is applied to estimate range parameter after the angle parameters have been obtained. Numerical examples are also presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm.