A Simplified Estimator for Tridimensional Localization of Single Incoherently Distributed Source

In this paper, a simplified parametric estimator for tridimensional localization of single incoherently distributed (ID) source with small angular spread is proposed. The proposed estimator firstly obtains two sample covariance matrices using the observation data of a L-shape array. And then the secondary diagonal elements of the sample covariance matrices are used to estimate the nominal azimuth and elevation of single ID source. Our technique does not involve any spectrum searching and the eigen-decomposition of the sample covariance matrix, and thus the computational burden has been significantly alleviated. Moreover, it is also a blind estimator which doesn’t require any prior knowledge about the angular power density of the ID source. Numerical examples illustrate the performance of the proposed estimator.