Convolutive bounded component analysis algorithms for independent and dependent source separation

Bounded component analysis (BCA) is a framework that can be considered as a more general framework than independent component analysis (ICA) under the boundedness constraint on sources. Using this framework, it is possible to separate dependent as well as independent components from their mixtures. In this paper, as an extension of a recently introduced instantaneous BCA approach, we introduce a family of convolutive BCA criteria and corresponding algorithms. We prove that the global optima of the proposed criteria, under generic BCA assumptions, are equivalent to a set of perfect separators. The algorithms introduced in this paper are capable of separating not only the independent sources but also the sources that are dependent/correlated in both component (space) and sample (time) dimensions. Therefore, under the condition that the sources are bounded, they can be considered as extended convolutive ICA algorithms with additional dependent/correlated source separation capability. Furthermore, they have potential to provide improvement in separation performance, especially for short data records. This paper offers examples to illustrate the space-time correlated source separation capability through a copula distribution-based example. In addition, a frequency-selective Multiple Input Multiple Output equalization example demonstrates the clear performance advantage of the proposed BCA approach over the state-of-the-art ICA-based approaches in setups involving convolutive mixtures of digital communication sources.