Underdetermined-order recursive least-squares adaptive filtering: the concept and algorithms

The concept of underdetermined recursive leastsquares (URLS) adaptive filtering is introduced. In particular, the URLS algorithm is derived and shown to be a direct consequence of the principle of minimal disturbance. By exploiting the Hankel structure of the filter input matrix, the fast transversal filter (FTF) version of the URLS algorithm (URLS-FTF) is derived including sliding window and growing window types, which allow alteration of the order of the URLS algorithm (which is equivalent to the linear prediction order of the input) in real time. The computational complexity is reduced to O(N) + O(m), where N is the adaptive filter length, and m is the order of the URLS algorithm. In addition, the efficient URLS (EURLS) algorithm, which does not compute the filter coefficients explicitly, thereby significantly reducing the computational load, is presented. Some earlier adaptive algorithms such as the averaged LMS, filtered-X LMS, and fast conjugate gradient are shown to be suboptimal approximations of the URLS algorithm. Instrumental variable approximations are also discussed. The URLS algorithm has a whitening effect on the input signal, which provides immunity to the eigenvalue spread of the input signal correlation matrix. Although the algorithm is sensitive to observation noise, it has good tracking characteristics, and tradeoffs can be found by tuning the step size. The utility of the URLS algorithms, in its basic form and FTF realization, depends heavily on the practical applicability of the mth-order sliding window estimate of the covariance matrix and mth-order FTF relations. The feasibility of the URLS family in practical applications is demonstrated in the simulations, which include channel equalization and acoustic echo cancellation in hands-free terminals with real data sets.