Algorithm to Estimate Direction of Arrival with Interpolated Array Elements for Coprime Array Holes

A novel method for adding antennas in the coprime arrays is introduced in this study, in order to solve the problem of the reduced degree of freedom of the array in the hole-existing coprime arrays. The minimum number of antennas interpolated in the algorithm maximizes the available degrees of freedom of virtual arrays, and the number of interpolated antennas does not change the original aperture size of the coprime arrays. With the proposed algorithm, the estimate of the direction of arrival is more accurate for a given signal-to-noise ratio. The scheme first finds the regular pattern of hole positions in virtual array elements, and then, according to the regular pattern, the position of the hole of the partial virtual array element is interpolated with the array element antenna at the position of the corresponding coprime arrays. The holes of the virtual array element are filled, giving virtual uniform continuous array elements with maximum degrees of freedom. We use the ESPRIT, and the simulation results show that the proposed algorithm improves the accuracy and resolution of estimates of the direction of arrival