Cost/benefit criterion for selection of pulsed Doppler ultrasound spectral mean frequency and bandwidth estimators

A flexible selection criterion for spectral estimators based on the weighted statistical accuracy (benefit) of estimation of decisive spectral parameters under the constraint of low computational complexity (cost) is proposed. This new cost/benefit criterion also selects the model order for parametric spectral estimators-selecting model orders significantly lower than those determined by accepted criteria. The importance of different Doppler signal parameters (e.g., mean frequency and spectral bandwidth) and their accuracy of estimation is incorporated by the use of weighting factors. The use of this method with simulated Doppler signals led to the selection of the modified covariance Alt estimator.