Joint Space-Time Parameter Estimation for Underwater Communication Channels with Velocity Vector Sensor Arrays

In this paper, the problem of joint space-time parameter estimation for underwater wireless communication channels in a multipath environment is addressed. We consider the receive antenna array to be configured with multiple vector sensors, each of which consists of a pair of orthogonal velocity sensors. A quadrilinear model for the channel is formulated, and a quadrilinear decomposition method developed for joint angle and delay estimation (JADE). In addition, a computationally simple subspace-based algorithm is proposed for the problem under consideration. The basic idea behind this algorithm is to use the angle information embedded in the velocity vector sensors to start two polynomial rooting procedures for the angle and delay in succession. Simulation results are finally presented to verify the efficacy of the proposed algorithms.