On DOA estimation of vibrating antenna arrays

Array antennas which are integrated onto lightweight structures of aircraft and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are subject to unsteady aerodynamic loads. Mechanical forces and these aerodynamic loads will cause deformation of the antenna supporting structure. As a consequence, the positions and orientations of the elements of the array antenna change. The relative phases of the respective signals of the array antenna elements are affected, and therefore also the processing of the received signals is influenced. In this paper the effects of vibration of the array antenna on estimating Direction of Arrival (DOA) are investigated. To this end the MUSIC algorithm is applied to signals which are received by antenna elements of a demonstrator vibrating array antenna.