Patent ID: 8818064

Claim:
A method, comprising: using at least one processor circuit, receiving an echo data set obtained using one or more transducers, the echo data set including information representative of an echo provided at least in part by one or more actual targets included in a region of interest; using at least one processor circuit, modeling the region of interest, the modeling including selecting or generating an array manifold matrix, the array manifold matrix including information corresponding to any one or more candidate targets included in the region of interest; using at least one processor circuit, adding a first specified dithering signal to the echo data set to provide a first dithered echo data set; and using at least one processor circuit, determining weights of the candidate targets using the array manifold matrix and the echo data set, the determining the weights including: determining a first vector representing the weights of the candidate target locations using the first dithered echo data set including minimizing an argument of a function modeling the weights of the candidate targets, the minimizing subject to a constraint that a product of the array manifold matrix and the first vector representing the determined weights of each of the one or more candidate targets is about equal to the received echo data set corresponding to the one or more actual targets.