In mobile communications, local scattering in the vicinity of the mobile results in angular spreading as seen from a base station antenna array. In this paper, we consider the problem of estimating the parameters [direction-of-arrival (DOA) and angular spread] of a spatially distributed source, using a uniform linear array (ULA). A two-step procedure enabling decoupling the estimation of DOA from that of the angular spread is proposed. This method combines a covariance matching algorithm with the use of the extended invariance principle (EXIP). More exactly, the first step makes use of an unstructured model for the part of the covariance matrix that depends on the angular spread. Then, the solution is refined by invoking EXIP. Instead of a 2-D search, the proposed scheme requires two successive 1-D searches. Additionally, the DOA estimate is robust to mismodeling the spatial distribution of the scatterers. A statistical analysis is carried out, and a formula for the asymptotic variance of the estimates is derived. Numerical examples illustrate the performance of the method.
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