Improved Direction-of-Arrival Estimation and its Implementation for Modified Symmetric Sensor Array

In this paper, we propose a modified symmetric sensor array for the estimation of uncorrelated and coherent sources by reconstructing the modified Toeplitz matrices. The rank of these matrices only corresponds to DOAs and the coherency present between the signals cannot affect it. Uniform linear array (ULA) and symmetric ULA do not make the correct estimation of DOAs near the array endfires. The proposed algorithm deciphers this problem by exploiting two extra sensors placed at both the ends of the modified symmetric ULA. Although the new method is computationally simple since it does not use the process of peak searching and does not depend on the coherency between the signals. The efficacy of the proposed method is exemplified by both computer simulations and practical realization. Firstly, computer simulations are presented for various conditions, and then a practical possible concept is explained. Finally, the new method is implemented using an advanced TMS320C6678 digital signal processor (DSP). Both simulated and practical experiments verify the efficacy of the new method.