A multi-target port/starboard discrimination algorithm for the non-straight single line array based on blind source separation

To deal with the port/starboard ambiguity of the single line array,we proposed the multi-target port/starboard discrimination algorithm of the non-straight single line array based on blind source separation.According to this algorithm,first the array received signals are discretized into some narrowband spectral components through Discrete Fourier Transform.Then blind source separation is performed on the narrow-band data to get the steering vector of each incoming wave in every frequency bin.After that,the direction spectrum of each steering vector is estimated by the Conventional BeamForming(CBF) method.With the port/starboard restrain ratio,we can realize one-target port/starboard discrimination and find the azimuths of real targets at the corresponding frequency bin.Finally all azimuths are clustered to get the azimuth of each target.As a result,multi-target port/starboard discrimination is achieved.In simulation,this algorithm estimates the number of targets more accurately than CBF and Minimum Variance Distortionless Response(MVDR) algorithm,and at the same time maintains a fast operation speed.In sea trial data processing,this algorithm eliminates the interference of mirror targets and accurately estimates the tracks of ship targets.Both simulations and experiments demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can discriminate real targets and mirror targets,outperforming CBF and MVDR algorithm in multi-target port/starboard discrimination.