Real-time ultra-wideband direction finding for the conformal array antenna

In order to solve the problem concerning the ultra-wideband direction finding for the conformal array antenna on an airborne system, a real-time arbitrary baseline direction finding algorithm based on the conformal array antenna has been proposed. This algorithm provides unambiguous direction finding using the rotation comparison method. The arbitrary baseline algorithm was extended to 3D array. The 2D azimuth and pitch angles estimation were acquired through use of the sub-array divided technique, matrix inversion method and the arbitrary baseline algorithm combined with the virtual baseline method. Finally, the simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed method by comparing the 3D conformal array based on the log-periodic dipole antenna (LPDA) with the 2D array based on the spiral antenna. The proposed algorithm has similar solving ambiguity probability at the same frequency and high measure angle accuracy at the same SNR.