A Root Extension to the Propagator Algorithm for Direction of Arrival Estimation

In this paper, we propose an extension to the Propagator algorithm for source bearing estimation by performing root decomposition which eliminates the need for spectral search over angles. Further the propagator spatial spectrum is reused after performing the polynomial rooting to alleviate the observed drawback of an increase in RMSE at lower SNRs for estimating the directions-of-arrival of signals impinging on a linear array of sensors. Our proposed algorithm achieves a 98% reduction in computational complexity compared to Propagator alongside an improved angular resolution suitable for real time DOA estimation for wireless communications.