A method of direction of arrival estimation using a plane array and analysis of its performance

A method of direction of arrival (DOA) estimation-SVDSPM (Singular Value Decomposition based on signal-phase-matching) algorithm with a plane array for long range targets is presented.The formula for calculating time delay that is necessary for estimating space spectrum is derived.Then DOA estimation performance for some typical plane arrays is analyzed and the simulation results preliminarily show that the performance of the method is more accurate than that of MUSIC (Multiple Signal Classification) algorithm at low ratio of signal to noise.Taking a cross plane array an example,the performance of the method under some influence factors,such as range,sensor position error and channel gain and phase uncertainties is theoretically analyzed.The simulation results show that when sensor position error,channel gain and phase uncertainties are smaller than 10 mm,1.5 dB and 10°respectively,and the angle of the pitch of target is smaller than 45°,the accuracy of DOA estimation is smaller than 0.5°.