An efficient real representation method for least squares problem of the quaternion constrained matrix equation AXB + CY D = E

Let ηHQk×k and ηAQk×k represent the sets of all k×k η-Hermitian quaternion matrices and η-anti-Hermitian quaternion matrices, respectively. On the basis of the real representation matrix of a quaternion matrix and its particular structure, we convert the least squares problem of the quaternion matrix equation AXB + CY D = E over X∈ηHQn×n,Y∈ηAQk×k into the corresponding problem of the real matrix equation over free variables, and then we establish its unique minimal norm least squares solution. Our resulting expressions are expressed only by real matrices, and the algorithm only includes real operations. Consequently, they are very simple and convenient. Compared with the existing method [S.F. Yuan, Q.W. Wang, and X. Zhang, Least-squares problem for the quaternion matrix equation AXB + CYD = E over different constrained matrices, Int. J. Comput. Math. 90 (2013), pp. 565–576], the final two examples show that our method is more efficient and superior.