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Single-Source DOA Estimation for Wideband LFM Signal: Time-Delay Mixing and Enhanced Self-Mixing MUSIC Methods

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Abstract

Accurately estimating the direction of arrival (DOA) of wideband signals with a sensor array is critical in communications, radar, and the Internet of Things. This paper proposes two single-source DOA estimation methods for wideband linear frequency modulation signals: time-delay mixing multiple signal classification (TDM-MUSIC) and enhanced self-mixing MUSIC (ESM-MUSIC). TDM-MUSIC employs time-delay mixing of the received signal to construct an equivalent single-frequency signal model, thereby enhancing estimation accuracy while maintaining reasonable computational efficiency. ESM-MUSIC improves the conventional self-mixing model by adding frequency correction steps, resulting in excellent DOA estimation performance at the expense of computational complexity. Unlike conventional methods that rely on approximate models, our methods establish more accurate equivalent models. A key advantage of our methods is that they allow flexible adjustment of the optimal sensor inter-element spacing in arrays based on the equivalent signal model rather than the actual signal model, simplifying engineering fabrication and reducing mutual coupling between sensors. The paper establishes the Cramér–Rao bounds for both proposed methods and demonstrates their superiority over existing methods through comprehensive numerical simulations. Further, the experiment using a TI-AWR2243 multi-sensor array radar system confirms that our methods are feasible for practical engineering applications.

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Funding

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 62201266, 62301254), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20210335), and in part by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2023M731700).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Millimetre Waves, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210094, China

    Wentao Zhang & Mengjie Jiang

  2. Key Laboratory of Near-Range RF Sensing ICs & Microsystems, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210094, China

    Chen Miao & Wen Wu

Authors
  1. Wentao Zhang
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  2. Chen Miao
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  4. Wen Wu
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Contributions

WZ Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing—Original Draft, Writing—Review and Editing. CM Funding Acquisition, Writing—Review and Editing. MJ Experimentation,, Validation. WW Project Administration.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chen Miao.

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Conflict of interest

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 62201266, 62301254), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20210335), and in part by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2023M731700).

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Zhang, W., Miao, C., Jiang, M. et al. Single-Source DOA Estimation for Wideband LFM Signal: Time-Delay Mixing and Enhanced Self-Mixing MUSIC Methods. Circuits Syst Signal Process 44, 218–238 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00034-024-02827-7

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