Polarization optimization of compact antenna arrays for direction of arrival estimation

Analysis of polarization optimization of dual-polarized compact arrays for direction finding, which include Decoupling and Matching Networks (DMNs) comprised of distributed elements, is performed in this paper. The CRLB for two-dimensional Direction of Arrival (DoA) estimation is used as a figure of merit for the performance of five elements dual-polarized circular L-Quad arrays, assuming different interelement spacings and the correspondent DMNs, designed with the aim of decoupling and matching the compact arrays, with interelement spacing smaller than half of the free-space wavelength. Owing to the dual-polarimetric characteristic of the antenna array investigated, it is possible to optimize the DMN to decouple and match the array elements for the direction finding of impinging electromagnetic wavefronts.