Estimation of blood velocity using the wideband maximum likelihood estimator [ultrasonic measurement]

The local accuracy of the wideband point MLE (maximum likelihood estimator) is evaluated through the use of the Cramer-Rao bound. This evaluation shows that this new estimation strategy results in a reduced bound on the estimator variance in comparison with traditional strategies. In order to study global accuracy the expected estimator output is evaluated and the width of the mainlobe and the height of subsidiary peaks are reduced through the use of this estimator. In an experimental study, the predictions are compared with actual values computed from ultrasonic data. Through this investigation, the assumptions of the model are verified and the predicted improvements in local and global accuracy are confirmed