On the application of circular arrays in direction finding. Part I: Investigation into the estimation algorithms

Abstract

The performance of different direction finding algorithms for the circular arrays is investigated in this paper. Several direction estimation algorithms are studied with their pros and cons discussed. Special consideration is given to the necessary conditions needed prior to applying the algorithms in order to guarantee high accuracy in the field. Their performance is evaluated based on a simplified data model with some further assumptions, and followed by a top level comparison between each of the algorithms. The on-going research shows that the performance of the SAGE is superior to any of the other algorithms considered here when applied to a circular arra