Direction finding with an array of antennas having diverse polarizations

The advantages of using diversely polarized antennas to determine bearings of multiple cochannel narrow-band signals are shown. Three bearing estimation algorithms-maximum likelihood (ML), adapted angular response (AAR), and Music (multiple signal classification)-are extended to handle antenna arrays with diverse polarizations; the maximum entropy method does not readily extend. The proposed algorithms are applicable to arbitrary antenna locations and directional characteristics and arbitrary noise correlations between the antenna outputs. The algorithms are compared on the basis of multiple signal resolution and bearing accuracy in the presence of noise. The Music algorithm exhibits superior performance at moderate to low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).