Effect of radome shape on direction of arrival using baseline interferometry

Radome design and analysis using baseline interferometry (BLI) antenna system is explained in detail in this paper. BLI system uses the phase information obtained by different antennas positioned at specific distances to find the direction of arrival of the EM wave. The phase information from the antennas is processed using the BLI algorithm to obtain the direction of arrival. The presence of radome introduces insertion loss and phase deviation. These deviations depend on the material, shape and thickness of radome and the frequency of operation as well. The analysis is carried out at X-band. Three different radomes sizes are considered for comparison. The variation in DOA and DPE are compared for the three radomes. This analysis is useful for optimization of radome antenna combination for airborne applications. The simulation is carried out in CST MWS 2010 and the simulated data is further processed in MATLAB® R2009a.