A three-dimensional distributed source modeling and direction of arrival estimation using two linear arrays

Abstract

A number of results on the estimation of direction of arrival have been obtained based on the assumption that the signal sources are point sources. Recently, it has been shown that signal source localization can be accomplished more adequately with distributed source models in some real surroundings. In this paper, we consider modeling of three-dimensional distributed signal sources, in which a source location is represented by the center angles and degrees of dispersion. We address estimation of the elevation and azimuth angles of distributed sources based on the proposed distributed source modeling in the three-dimensional space using two linear arrays. Some examples are included to more explicitly show the estimation procedures under the model: numerical results obtained by a MUSIC-based method with two uniform linear arrays are discussed.