Blind beamforming and signal detection by antenna arrays using higher order statistics

A blind technique for beamforming and signal detection using antenna arrays is considered. The technique uses higher order statistics (HOS) to achieve blind defection of noncoherent and coherent signals without a priori information about the array configuration or the direction of arrival (DOA). We show through computer simulations that this technique is very powerful even in the worse case of fully correlated (coherent) signals arriving from different unknown directions. Such a case is unsolvable using classical beamforming techniques based on second order statistics, even if the DOA are accurately estimated. Both linear and circular arrays are considered in the simulation.