The invention belongs to the crossing field of information and ocean science and technology, and discloses a DOA
estimation method for a UUV broadside parallel co-prime array. According to the method, firstly, a virtual extension array is generated by utilizing an array auto-
covariance and cross-
covariance matrix, then, Toeplitz completion is carried out on'holes' in the
virtual array through trace norm regularization and nuclear norm regularization constraints, a complete
covariance structure is recovered, and finally, an extension matrix is constructed, and rotation invariance of a
signal subspace of the extension matrix is utilized, so that the covariance structure of the
virtual array is obtained. The
pitch angle and the
azimuth angle of the target are jointly solved, automatic angle
pairing is achieved, and the effectiveness and the reliability of the method are verified through
simulation results. According to the method, aiming at the application challenges that the UUV broadside array space is limited and the
underwater environment is complex, all
virtual array elements of the broadside parallel co-prime array are fully utilized, the array freedom degree and
estimation precision are remarkably improved, the target detection capacity of the UUV is effectively enhanced, and the method has high practical
engineering application value.