Estimation of the number of sources with DOA priors

In this paper, we present a technique for estimating the number of sources based on the eigenvectors of the covariance matrix of received signal at an antenna array when directions of arrival priors are obtained from the received signal, e.g. via a spectral estimation method such as MVDR. The proposed technique is designated the eigenvector order estimation technique (EOET). EOET outperforms AIC, MDL and GDE techniques in practice and provides comparable detection sensitivity as AIC, MDL, and GDE in simulation