Title :
Novel wideband multimode hybrid interferometer system
Author :
Pasala, Krishna ; Penno, Robert ; Schneider, Stephen
Author_Institution :
Dayton Univ., OH, USA
Abstract :
In this paper, a novel hybrid of a three-element interferometer comprised of multimode antennas is analyzed. The phase ambiguities associated with the long baselines of the interferometer are resolved using the "coarse" angle estimates provided by the multimode antenna. This results in the elimination of the short baseline interferometers of the conventional five-element interferometer. It is shown here that the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) must be above a threshold value to resolve the phase ambiguities with a high degree of probability. An expression that shows the dependence of this threshold SNR on the interferometer spacing and the variance of the angle estimates provided by the multimode antenna is derived. A single three-element wideband multimode antenna interferometer can replace several five-element conventional interferometers, each covering a separate frequency band.
Keywords :
antennas; radiowave interferometers; radiowave interferometry; SNR; coarse angle estimate; five-element interferometer; interferometer spacing; multimode antenna; phase ambiguity; short baseline interferometer; signal-to-noise ratio; three-element interferometer; threshold value; wideband multimode hybrid interferometer system; Apertures; Azimuth; Bandwidth; Broadband antennas; Direction of arrival estimation; Frequency; Laboratories; Signal resolution; Spirals; Wideband;
Journal_Title :
Aerospace and Electronic Systems, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TAES.2003.1261135