This paper is concerned with the ambiguity problem which is of major concern in a number of statistical signal processing applications. Initially, the concept of ‘hyperhelical’ parameterisation is presented and then a compact algorithm for the classification and calculation of ambiguities is proposed, in conjunction with two application areas: the array processing and the harmonic retrieval problem. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that in the harmonic retrieval problem, under certain conditions, the sampling rate can even be lower than the Nyquist rate.