Research of Vector Array STMV Beam-Forming Technology and Its Sea Trial Application

Targets' radiated noise always belongs to wide-band signal, and its energy distributes not average in whole band, which influences broad band beam-forming effect. The paper studies the theory of vector array steered minimum variance beam-forming algorithm (STMV), and its performance is analyzed and proved by simulation and two sea trials. The sea trials results show that vector array STMV has lower side lobe and narrower main lobe, which is more useful for multi-target distinguishing. Especially it hasn't false grating lobe which is more advantaged for multi-target detection and tracking. In order to analyze the local precise and global characters of all targets, we divide the broadband signal into several sub bands, and the STMV is carried out in both the sub bands and whole band in this paper. The optimal engineering realization way of broadband vector array STMV is proposed from the view of practical application point. By analyzing the spatial spectrums of sub bands and whole band signals, the weak targets detection and multi-target tracking capability of the vector STMV is enhanced significantly.