Fast and Efficient 1-Bit DOA Estimation for Nested Linear Arrays

This paper studies the problem of fast 1-bit direction of arrival (DOA) estimate for nested linear arrays (NLA). When the received data from the NLA is 1-bit quantized, the 1-bit covariance matrix can be approximated by summing the scaled unquantized covariance matrix and the scaled identity matrix. Using the property that the NLA can generate a difference coarray with a high number of virtual array elements based on a small number of array elements, we construct the equivalent single snapshot data received by the coarray using 1-bit covariance matrix. Then the rough initial DOA estimation is obtained by using discrete Fourier transform (DFT), whereas the precise estimation is done by searching for the optimal phase offset in a very limited region. The proposed method has the advantages of simple implementation and low computational complexity. Numerical simulations and analysis of the results verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.