Analysis of angle of arrival estimation at HF using an ensemble of structurally integrated antennas
Clair F. Corbin, Geoffrey A. Akers · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 2013
The number of elements in a nonplanar antenna array, their respective farfield radiation patterns, the relative spacing between the elements, and the signal processing approach determine the angle-of-arrival (AOA) estimation performance for a direction finding (DF) system. Designing an airborne DF system becomes challenging as the wavelengths of the signals of interest become large with respect to the host aircraft. Given an ensemble of structurally integrated (SI) antennas designed using a discrete number of feed points, this paper presents an analysis of AOA estimation as a function of the number of SI feed elements and their respective locations on a large, three-dimensional aircraft model at HF (2-32 MHz). Empirical results for AOA estimation errors versus the number and physical location of feed points are presented using the maximum likelihood method estimator for 4 and 11 MHz signals of interest.