DOA estimation based on sum–difference coarray with virtual array interpolation concept

The sum–difference coarray is the union of difference coarray and the sum coarray, which is capable to obtain a higher number of degrees of freedom (DOF) than the difference coarray. However, this method fails to use all information provided by the coprime array because of the existence of holes. In this paper, we introduce the virtual array interpolation into the sum–difference coarray domain. After interpolating the virtual array, we estimate the DOA by reconstructing the covariance matrix to resolve an atomic norm minimization problem in a gridless way. The proposed method is gridless and can effectively utilize the DOF of a larger virtual array. Numerical simulation results verify the effectiveness and the superior performance of the proposed algorithm.