Polarization parameters estimation with scalar sensor arrays

The scalar sensor array (SSA) is generally assumed insensitive to the polarization of impinging signals, and only diversely polarized arrays, such as 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 established and then as an example, a dimension-reduction method based on multiple signal classification (MUSIC) is employed to jointly estimate the direction-of-arrival and polarization parameters. Computer simulations based on a planar array of circularly polarized microstrip antennas are provided to demonstrate the performance of the proposed method.