Joint estimation of time delay and frequency delay in impulsive noise using fractional lower order statistics

New methods for time delay estimation and joint estimation of time delay and frequency delay in the presence of impulsive noise are introduced. First, degradation of the conventional approaches based on second-order statistics is shown both theoretically and experimentally. Then, a new class of robust algorithms are developed using the theory of alpha-stable distributions, including the fractional lower order covariance (FLOC) method, which is formulated for the time delay estimation problem and the fractional lower order ambiguity function (FLOAF), which is defined for the joint estimation of time delay and frequency delay. It is shown that these new methods are robust for both Gaussian and non-Gaussian impulsive noise environments. The improved performance is clearly demonstrated through detailed analysis and comprehensive simulations with computer-generated data as well as actual radar and sonar clutter data.