A novel DOA estimation algorithm for a 5-element circular array

Under the influence of the radome of the active and passive radar, the uniform circular array (UCA) becomes non-uniform in the electromagnetic performance, so the accuracy of direction of arrive (DOA) estimation is not high. This paper presents a universal look-up table algorithm for 5-element circular array to solve the problem. Firstly, we traverse the view field of the radar to obtain the long baseline phase differences of each angle point and store them to obtain the lookup table. Then, we can solve the incoming signal's long baseline phase differences on the array and compare them with the phase differences stored in the lookup table according to the maximum cosine value criterion. Finally, we can get the closest point and the corresponding angle is the angle of the incoming signal. Numerical simulation results and experimental results verify the effectiveness of the algorithm.