Central Angle Estimation of Coherently Distributed Sources for Bistatic MIMO Radar Based on Second Virtual Array Aperture Extension

A new central angle estimation method of the coherently distributed sources for bistatic MIMO radar is proposed based on second virtual array aperture extension. Firstly, the bistatic MIMO radar data model for the coherently distributed sources with the identical deterministic angular distribution function and distribution parameter is built based on nonuniform array. The second virtual array aperture extension is also realized by the colocated difference arrays of the minimum redundancy arrays. Furthermore, the new correlation matrix is obtained via transformal, eliminating redundant and changeable dimensional matrix. Finally, the central angles of DODs and DOAs are estimated without pairing algorithm by the idea of ESPRIT. Because of the second virtual array aperture extension, the proposed method provides much more parameter identifiability and better parameter estimation performance than the conventional bistatic MIMO radar. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified with the computer simulation.