Correspondence item: On comparison of Levinson, hybrid, and maximum entropy spectral estimation methods with the 2‐D minimum free energy method

Discusses the 2‐D minimum free energy (MFE) parameter and spectral estimation method and presents an algorithm for its implementation. Notes a profound lack of results in the literature on 2‐D spectral estimation methods and on their comparison. To address this issue and to impart an overall impression of the performance of 2‐D MFE, compares results from the Levinson method, a maximum entropy method (MEM), and a hybrid method with 2‐D MFE. Points out that 2‐D MFE can provide superior spectral estimates to that produced with MEM and that, in general, MFE requires a larger area of correlation support than the hybrid method. Also notes that 2‐D MFE can provide superior spectral estimation over the 2‐D Levinson algorithm.