Polarization Parameters Estimation With Scalar Sensor Arrays

The scalar sensor array (SSA) is generally assumed insensitive to the polarization of the impinging signals, and only diversely polarized arrays, e.g., the vector (crossed-dipole or tripole) sensor array (VSA), can be used for polarization estimation. However, as shown in this paper, with the mutual coupling effect, the SSA can become partially sensitive to polarization of the impinging signals and therefore can be used for polarization parameter estimation. The polarization sensitivity model of an SSA is first developed and then as an example, the dimension-reduction method of multiple signal classification (MUSIC) is employed to jointly estimate the direction-of-arrival (DOA) parameters and the polarization parameters. Computer simulations based on a planar array of circularly polarized microstrip antennas are provided to demonstrate the proposed method.