Estimation of wavefield power distribution in the remotely sensed environment: Bayesian maximum entropy approach

The problem of estimating, from one random realization of the remotely sensed signal, the spatial spectrum pattern (SSP) of the wavefield sources distributed in the environment is cast in the framework of Bayesian estimation theory. The kernel spectral estimation method that is familiar, for the classical SSP estimation problem, with the Fourier transform operator and white noise in the observations is extended to incorporate spatial correlation in the data, the system-oriented model of the signal formation operator, and the maximum entropy (ME) statistical a priori information about the SSP. To derive the estimate of the SSP, we applied the Bayesian strategy for maximization of the a posteriori probability density function of the randomized ME model of the SSP. The estimator was obtained as a nonlinear adaptive algorithm that also permits a concise robust implementation. The optimal algorithm implies formation of the second-order sufficient statistics of the data and their smoothing by applying the window operator. The new formalism of the sufficient statistics and windows, explaining their adjustment to the metrics in a solution space, a priori nonparametric model and assumed correlation properties of the desired SSP, is developed. Simulation results are included to illustrate the overall performance of the proposed method in an example of application to radar image formation.