We study the problem of selecting a subset of vectors from a large set to obtain the best signal representation over a family of functions. Although greedy methods have been widely used to tackle this problem and many of those have been analyzed under the lens of (weak) submodularity, none of these algorithms are explicitly devised using such a functional property. Here, we revisit the vector-selection problem and introduce a function that is shown to be submodular in expectation. This function not only guarantees near-optimality through a greedy algorithm in expectation but also alleviates the existing deficiencies in commonly used matching pursuit (MP) algorithms. We further show the relation between the single-point-estimate version of the proposed greedy algorithm and MP variants. Moreover, we discuss extending the signal representation problem to instances with knapsack and matroid constraints. Our theoretical findings are supported by numerical experiments on the angle of arrival estimation problem, a typical signal representation task, demonstrating the benefits of our method compared to traditional MP algorithms.

Sparse array design is used to help reduce computational, hardware, and power requirements compared to uniform arrays while maintaining acceptable performance. Although minimizing the Cramér-Rao bound has been adopted previously for sparse sensing, it did not consider multiple targets and unknown target directions. To handle the unknown target directions when optimizing the Cramér-Rao bound, we propose to use the worst-case Cramér-Rao bound of two uncorrelated equal power sources with arbitrary angles. This new worst-case two-target Cramér-Rao bound metric has some resemblance to the peak sidelobe level metric which is commonly used in unknown multi-target scenarios. We cast the sensor selection problem for 3-D arrays using the worst-case two-target Cramér-Rao bound as a convex semi-definite program and obtain the binary selection by randomized rounding. We illustrate the proposed method through numerical examples, comparing it to solutions obtained by minimizing the single-target Cramér-Rao bound, minimizing the Cramér-Rao bound for known target angles, the concentric rectangular array and the boundary array. We show that our method selects a combination of edge and center elements, which contrasts with solutions obtained by minimizing the single-target Cramér-Rao bound. The proposed selections also exhibit lower peak sidelobe levels without the need for sidelobe level constraints.

The main focus of this paper is an active sensing application that involves selecting transmit and receive sensors to optimize the Cramér-Rao bound (CRB) on target parameters. Although the CRB is non-convex in the transmit and receive selection, we demonstrate that it is convex in the virtual array weight vector, which describes the multiplicity of the virtual array elements. Based on this finding, we propose a novel algorithm that optimizes the virtual array weight vector first and then finds a matching transceiver array. This greatly enhances the efficiency of the transmit and receive sensor selection problem.

We consider the scenario of finding the transfer function of an aberrating layer in front of a receiving ultrasound (US) array, assuming a separate non-aberrated transmit source. We propose a method for blindly estimating this transfer function without exact knowledge of the ultrasound sources or acoustic contrast image, and without directly measuring the transfer function using a separate controlled calibration experiment. Instead, the measurement data of many unknown random images is collected, such as from blood flow, and its second-order statistics are exploited. A measurement model is formulated that explicitly defines the layer's transfer function. A covariance domain problem is then defined to eliminate the image variable, and it is solved for the layer's transfer function using manifold-based optimization. The proposed approach and calibration algorithm are evaluated on a range of challenging and realistic simulations using the k-Wave toolbox. Our results show that, given a sufficiently efficient parameterization of the layer's transfer function, and by jointly estimating the transfer function at multiple frequencies, the proposed algorithm is able to obtain an accurate estimate. Subsequent simulated imaging experiments using the obtained transfer function also show increased imaging performance in various aberrating layers, including a skull layer.

This work proposes an algorithmic framework to learn time-varying graphs from online data. The generality offered by the framework renders it model-independent, i.e., it can be theoretically analyzed in its abstract formulation and then instantiated under a variety of model-dependent graph learning problems. This is possible by phrasing (time-varying) graph learning as a composite optimization problem, where different functions regulate different desiderata, e.g., data fidelity, sparsity or smoothness. Instrumental for the findings is recognizing that the dependence of the majority (if not all) data-driven graph learning algorithms on the data is exerted through the empirical covariance matrix, representing a sufficient statistic for the estimation problem. Its user-defined recursive update enables the framework to work in non-stationary environments, while iterative algorithms building on novel time-varying optimization tools explicitly take into account the temporal dynamics, speeding up convergence and implicitly including a temporal-regularization of the solution. We specialize the framework to three well-known graph learning models, namely, the Gaussian graphical model (GGM), the structural equation model (SEM), and the smoothness-based model (SBM), where we also introduce ad-hoc vectorization schemes for structured matrices (symmetric, hollows, etc.) which are crucial to perform correct gradient computations, other than enabling to work in low-dimensional vector spaces and hence easing storage requirements. After discussing the theoretical guarantees of the proposed framework, we corroborate it with extensive numerical tests in synthetic and real data.

Doppler velocity estimation in pulse-Doppler radar is done by evaluating the target returns of bursts of pulses. While this provides convenience and accuracy, it requires multiple pulses. In adaptive and cognitive radar systems, the ability to adapt on consecutive pulses, instead of bursts, brings potential performance benefits. Hence, with radar transceiver arrays growing increasingly larger in their number of elements over the years, it may be time to re-evaluate how Doppler velocity can be estimated when using large planar arrays. In this work, we present variance bounds on the estimation of velocity using the Doppler shift as it appears in the array model. We also propose an efficient method of performing the velocity estimation and we verify its performance using Monte Carlo simulations.

One of the main challenges of graph filters is the stability of their design. While classical graph filters allow for a stable design using optimal polynomial approximation theory, generalized graph filters tend to suffer from the ill-conditioning of the involved system matrix. This issue, accentuated for increasing graph filter orders, naturally leads to very large (small) filter coefficients or error saturation, casting a shadow on the benefits of these richer graph filter structures. In addition to this, data-driven design/learning of graph filters with large filter orders, even in the case of classical graph filters, suffers from the eigenvalue spread of the input data covariance matrix and mode coupling, leading to convergence-related issues as the ones observed when identifying time-domain filters with large orders. To alleviate these conditioning and convergence problems, and to reduce the overall design complexity, in this work, we propose a cascaded implementation of generalized graph filters and an efficient algorithm for designing the graph filter coefficients in both model- and data-driven settings. Further, we establish the connections of this implementation with so-called graph convolutional neural networks and demonstrate the performance of the proposed structure in different network applications. By the proposed approach, further error reduction and better design stability are achieved.

The design of feasible trajectories to traverse the k-space for sampling in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is important while considering ways to reduce the scan time. Over the recent years, non-Cartesian trajectories have been observed to result in benign artifacts and being less sensitive to motion. In this paper, we propose a generalized framework that encompasses projection-based methods to generate feasible non-Cartesian k-space trajectories. This framework allows to construct feasible trajectories from both random or structured initial trajectories, e.g., based on the traveling salesman problem (TSP). We evaluate the performance of the proposed methods by simulating the reconstruction of 128 × 128 and 256 × 256 phantom and brain MRI images in terms of structural similarity (SSIM) index and peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) using compressed sensing techniques. It is observed that the TSP-based trajectories from the proposed projection method with constant acceleration parameterization (CAP) result in better reconstruction compared to the projection method with constant velocity parameterization (CVP) and this for a similar read-out time. Further, random-like trajectories are observed to be better than TSP-based trajectories as they reduce the read-out time while providing better reconstruction quality. A reduction in read-out time by upto 67% is achieved using the proposed projection with permutation (PP) method.