We present a study of a matrix pencil method for esti-

mating parameters (frequencies and damping factors) of exponentially

damped and/or undamped sinusoids in noise. Comparison of this

method to a polynomial method (SVD-Prony method) shows that the

matrix pencil method and the polynomial method are two special cases

of a matrix prediction approach but the pencil method is more efficient

in computation and less restrictive about signal poles. It is found

through perturbation analysis and simulation that, for signals with un-

known damping factors, the pencil method is less sensitive to noise than

the polynomial method. In Appendix A, a new expression of the Cra-

mer-Ran bound for the exponential signals is presented.-We　present a study of a matrix pencil method for esti-

mating parameters (frequencies and damping factors) of exponentially

damped and/or undamped sinusoids in noise. Comparison of this

method to a polynomial method (SVD-Prony method) shows that the

matrix pencil method and the polynomial method are two special cases

of a matrix prediction approach but the pencil method is more efficient

in computation and less　restrictive about signal poles. It is found

through perturbation analysis and simulation that, for signals with un-

known damping factors, the pencil method is less sensitive to noise than

the polynomial method. In Appendix A, a new expression of the Cra-

mer-Ran bound for the exponential signals is presented.