To improve the reconstruction performance of the greedy algorithm for sparse signals, an improved greedy algorithm, called sparsity estimation variable step-size matching pursuit, is proposed. Compared with state-of-the-art greedy algorithms, the proposed algorithm incorporates the restricted isometry property and variable step-size, which is utilized for sparsity estimation and reduces the reconstruction time, respectively. Based on the sparsity estimation, the initial value including sparsity level and support set is computed at the beginning of the reconstruction, which provides preliminary sparsity information for signal reconstruction. Then, the residual and correlation are calculated according to the initial value and the support set is refined at the next iteration associated with variable step-size and backtracking. Finally, the correct support set is obtained when the halting condition is reached and the original signal is reconstructed accurately. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm improves the recovery performance and considerably outperforms the existing algorithm in terms of the running time in sparse signal reconstruction.
