Direction and polarization estimation for coherent sources using vector sensors

A two-dimensional direction-of-arrival (DOA) and polarization estimation algorithm for coherent sources using a linear vector-sensor array is presented. Two matrices are first constructed by the receiving data. The ranks of the two matrices are only related to the DOAs of the sources and independent of their coherency. Then the source's elevation is resolved via the matrix pencil (MP) method, and the singular value decomposition (SVD) is used to reduce the noise effect. Finally, the source's steering vector is estimated, and the analytics solutions of the source's azimuth and polarization parameter can be directly computed by using a vector cross-product estimator. Moreover, the proposed algorithm can achieve the unambiguous direction estimates, even if the space between adjacent sensors is larger than a half-wavelength. Theoretical and numerical simulations show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.