1. An apparatus for blind separation of an overcomplete set of mixed signals, the apparatus comprising: i. a data processing system including an input for receiving mixed signals from a plurality of sensors configured to receive mixed signal samples comprising a mixture of signals transmitted from signal sources through an environment and noise, a signal processor attached with the input for receiving the mixed signals from the sensors, and a memory for storing data during operations of the signal processor; the data processing system further comprising: ii. means for storing data representing the input from the sensors in a mixed signal matrix X; iii. means for storing data representing the noise in a noise matrix V; iv. means for storing data representing an estimate of the individual signals from the mixture of signals from the signal sources in a source signal estimate matrix &Scirc;; v. means for storing data representing an estimate of the effects of the environment in a estimated mixing matrix Â where the matrices are related by X&equals;Â&Scirc;&plus;V; vi. means for generating an initial estimate of the estimated mixing matrix Â; vii. means for determining the number of signal sources and associated lines of correlation of each of the signal sources from the estimated mixing matrix Â, and for representing the signal sources in the source signal estimate matrix &Scirc;; viii. means for jointly optimizing the source signal estimate matrix &Scirc; and the estimated mixing matrix Â in an iterative manner, to generate an optimized source signal estimate matrix &Scirc; and a final estimated mixing matrix Â; and ix. means for restoring the separated source signals from the optimized source signal estimate matrix &Scirc;, whereby a plurality of mixed signals from unknown sources traveling through an environment with added noise may be separated so that the original, separate signals may be reconstructed.