MATLAB Simulation of Wideband Direction of Arrival (DOA) Estimation

Wideband Direction of Arrival (DOA) estimation is a significant research area in array signal processing, primarily applied in radar, sonar, and wireless communication systems. Unlike narrowband signals, wideband signals exhibit frequency dispersion characteristics that cause performance degradation when directly applying traditional MUSIC algorithms. The TCT (Test of Correlation of the Time series) algorithm combined with MUSIC methodology effectively addresses this challenge.

In MATLAB simulation implementation, the core of the TCT algorithm involves computing covariance matrices for different frequency components and constructing focusing matrices to align data from various frequency bands to a reference frequency. This critical step eliminates phase distortions caused by frequency dispersion, enabling subsequent MUSIC algorithm to accurately estimate signal directions. The implementation typically requires frequency domain transformation using FFT and covariance matrix calculation across multiple frequency bins.

The MUSIC algorithm leverages the orthogonality between signal subspace and noise subspace, determining DOA through spectral peak search. In wideband scenarios, the covariance matrix after TCT focusing preserves directional information of signals, thereby enhancing the resolution of MUSIC algorithm. Key MATLAB functions involved include eig() for eigenvalue decomposition and matrix operations for subspace separation.

During simulation, careful consideration must be given to array geometry design, signal bandwidth selection, and appropriate setting of focusing frequency. By adjusting these parameters, researchers can observe algorithm performance under varying signal-to-noise ratios and signal conditions, providing valuable references for practical system design. The simulation code should include parameter sweep functionality to systematically evaluate performance metrics.