Detection of sources using bootstrap techniques

Source detection in array processing can be viewed as a test for equality of eigenvalues. Such a test is proposed, based on a multiple test procedure that considers all pairwise comparisons between eigenvalues. Using the bootstrap to estimate the null distributions of the test statistics results in a procedure with minimal assumptions on the nature of the signal. Simulations show that the proposed test is superior to information theoretic criteria such as the MDL, which are based on Gaussian signals and large sample sizes. Performance in most cases exceeds the more powerful sphericity test.