Optimal receive antenna polarization in the presence of interference and noise

The receive antenna polarization that maximizes the signal-to-interference-plus-noise power ratio (SINR) for an arbitrarily polarized signal is determined in the presence of arbitrarily polarized interference and thermal noise. The derivation makes use of the Poincare sphere representation of polarization and reduces the optimization problem to solution of a single transcendental equation. SINR performance is given in terms of degradation from the polarization matched, noise only case. Finally, a comparison of this optimum-pol strategy, with pol-nulling the interferer and pol-matching the signal is presented. These results provide insight into applying polarization theory to improve signal reception in the presence of interference and thermal noise