A reduced complexity ESPRIT method and its generalization to an antenna of partially unknown shape

We address the problem of finding a source bearing estimation method with low complexity and which is capable of dealing with uncertainties on the array geometry. This problem is important, for example, in the case of large towed arrays which may deviate from their assumed linear shape. We here consider the ESPRIT method as a candidate for dealing with this problem. We use the properties of the propagator to reduce the complexity of the ESPRIT method involved by the eigendecomposition and to generalize it, in conjunction with the interpolation of arrays, to the case of an array whose geometry is only known for a number of sensors equal to the number of sources