Application of spheroidal sequences to array processing

Eigenvector methods for narrow-band source location are based upon the key assumption that the spatial correlation matrix of the noise field is known. Unfortunately, these methods are very sensitive to errors upon it. This paper describes a method which performs a spatial filtering using discrete spheroidal sequences, before applying eigenvector methods. Thus, narrow spatial sectors are selected in which the noise field is easily modeled. In case of large arrays, the proposed method yields resolution properties far superior to the MUSIC technique with known noise correlation.