Properties of HF RADAR Compact Antenna Arrays and Their Effect on the MUSIC Algorithm

Detailed analysis of the compact antenna array patterns and the internal signal processing within the MUSIC algorithm leads to a goodness-of-fit quality metric for the output radial current velocities and bearings produced by the HF RADAR system. To achieve this, some theory behind the MUSIC direction finding algorithm, describing its Direction of Arrival (DO A) metric, is first presented. MATLAB simulations are conducted and statistics are collected on the DOA metrics. The magnitudes of these metrics are directly related to the quality of the bearings produced by the MUSIC algorithm. Quality of measured antenna patterns is paramount to the accuracy of the MUSIC algorithm bearing output. Ambiguities, as well as other aspects of the measured antenna patterns that are detrimental to quality, are discussed. This research provides HF RADAR users with a practical quality metric for the radial current velocities and their associated bearings produced by the HF RADAR system.