Direction of Arrival Estimation and Adaptive Processing Using a Conformal Phased Array

The objective of this article is to present a general methodology for carrying out direction of arrival (DoA) estimation and adaptive processing using conformal arrays. The antenna elements in a conformal array can be unequally spaced, and they need not be situated over a planar surface. In addition, the antenna elements can have a directive gain. The goal is to present a signal processing methodology coupled with electromagnetic physics that can deal with nonuniformly spaced directive antenna elements over a conformal surface. Keywords: conformal array; nonuniformly spaced array; DoA estimation; adaptive processing; mutual coupling; near-field effects