Approved for public release; distribution in unlimited. / In this thesis, a performance analysis and improvement of a phase sampling interferometer antenna system based on the Robust Symmetrical Number System (RSNS) in the presence of noise is investigated. Previous works have shown that the RSNS-based DF technique can provide high bearing resolution with a minimum number of antenna elements. However, the previous experimental data showed significant deviation from the theoretical results expected due to imperfections, errors, and noise. Therefore, an additive Gaussian noise model of RSNS-based DF was established and simulated. Simulation results show that the presence of noise distorts the signal amplitudes used in the RSNS processor and causes degradation of the angle-ofarrival estimates. A performance analysis was undertaken by first introducing the quadrature modulation configuration into RSNS-based DF system, which provided a digital antenna approach for more flexibility in the signal processing. With a digital approach, variable resolution signal preprocessing can be employed, using a virtual channel concept. The virtual channel concept changes moduli values without changing the actual physical antenna element spacing. This attractive property allows the RSNS algorithm to be implemented into existing antenna arrays and only requires modifying the antenna signal processor. Computer simulation results showed that the proposed method can successfully improve the system performance and also mitigate the effects of noise. / Captain, Taiwan Army

<p>Polarisation, which was first studied in optics, is a fundamental property of all electromagnetic fields. A convenient way to describe the polarisation of two dimensional electromagnetic fields is given by the Stokes parameters. This thesis deals with different aspects of wave polarisation and electromagnetic field measurements. A generalisation of the Stokes parameters to three dimensions is presented. The theory has been used to develop methods and systems for obtaining the polarisation parameters of electromagnetic waves. The methods can be applied for a wide range of electromagnetic fields, measured both on ground and onboard satellites. The applications include, e.g., direction-finding, polarisation analysis, radar, and several examples in the field of wireless communication. Further applications are given in the analysis of satellite data, where a whistler wave is considered. Whistlers are circularly polarised electromagnetic waves propagating in the magnetosphere along the geomagnetic field. Dispersion in the magnetospheric plasma make the whistler frequencies travel at different speeds and the signal takes the form of a chirp. From instantaneous polarisation analysis of the whistler´s magnetic wave field, the normal to the polarisation plane is obtained and found to precess around the geomagnetic field. A statistic analysis of ionospheric stimulated electromagnetic emissions (SEE) is also presented. SEE is generated by injecting a powerful high frequency radio wave into the ionosphere. It is shown that the SEE features have a statistical behaviour indistinguishable from the amplitude and phase distributions of narrow-band Gaussian noise. The results suggests that SEE cannot be explained by simple coherent processes alone. Finally, an expression for the complex Poynting theorem is derived for the general case of anharmonic fields. It is found that the complex Poynting theorem, for real fields and sources, is not a conservation law of the imaginary part of electromagnetic energy.</p>

Polarisation, which was first studied in optics, is a fundamental property of all electromagnetic fields. A convenient way to describe the polarisation of two dimensional electromagnetic fields is given by the Stokes parameters. This thesis deals with different aspects of wave polarisation and electromagnetic field measurements. A generalisation of the Stokes parameters to three dimensions is presented. The theory has been used to develop methods and systems for obtaining the polarisation parameters of electromagnetic waves. The methods can be applied for a wide range of electromagnetic fields, measured both on ground and onboard satellites. The applications include, e.g., direction-finding, polarisation analysis, radar, and several examples in the field of wireless communication. Further applications are given in the analysis of satellite data, where a whistler wave is considered. Whistlers are circularly polarised electromagnetic waves propagating in the magnetosphere along the geomagnetic field. Dispersion in the magnetospheric plasma make the whistler frequencies travel at different speeds and the signal takes the form of a chirp. From instantaneous polarisation analysis of the whistler´s magnetic wave field, the normal to the polarisation plane is obtained and found to precess around the geomagnetic field. A statistic analysis of ionospheric stimulated electromagnetic emissions (SEE) is also presented. SEE is generated by injecting a powerful high frequency radio wave into the ionosphere. It is shown that the SEE features have a statistical behaviour indistinguishable from the amplitude and phase distributions of narrow-band Gaussian noise. The results suggests that SEE cannot be explained by simple coherent processes alone. Finally, an expression for the complex Poynting theorem is derived for the general case of anharmonic fields. It is found that the complex Poynting theorem, for real fields and sources, is not a conservation law of the imaginary part of electromagnetic energy.

In this study, a neural network(NN) based algorithm is proposed for real time multiple source tracking problem based on a previously reported work. The proposed algorithm namely modified neural network based multiple source tracking algorithm (MN-MUST) performs direction of arrival(DoA) estimation in three stages which are the detection, filtering and DoA estimation stages. The main contributions of this proposed system are: reducing the input size for the uncorrelated source case (reducing the training time) of NN system without degradation of accuracy and insertion of a nonlinear spatial filter to isolate each one of the sectors where sources are present, from the others. MN-MUST algorithm finds the targets correctly no matter whether the targets are located within the same angular sector or not. In addition as the number of targets exceeds the number of antenna elements the algorithm can still perform sufficiently well. Mutual coupling in array does not influence MN-MUST algorithm performance. iv MN-MUST algorithm is further improved for a cylindrical microstrip patch antenna array by using the advantages of directive antenna pattern properties. The new algorithm is called cylindrical patch array MN-MUST(CMN-MUST). CMN-MUST algorithm consists of three stages as MN-MUST does. Detection stage is exactly the same as in MN-MUST. However spatial filtering and DoA estimation stage are reduced order by using the advantages of directive antenna pattern of cylindirical microstrip patch array. The performance of the algorithm is investigated via computer simulations, for uniform linear arrays, a six element uniform dipole array and a twelve element uniform cylindrical microstrip patch array. The simulation results are compared to the previously reported works and the literature. It is observed that the proposed algorithm improves the previously reported works. The algorithm accuracy does not degrade in the presence of the mutual coupling. A uniform cylindrical patch array is successfully implemented to the MN-MUST algorithm. The implementation does not only cover full azimuth, but also improv the accuracy and speed. It is observed that the MN-MUST algorithm provides an accurate and efficient solution to the targettracking problem in real time.

[pt] A maioria dos métodos e algoritmos para estimação de direção é pouco precisa em cenários formados por fontes próximas, pequenos lotes de amostras e sinais correlatados. Nos últimos anos, alguns métodos para superar tais óbices utilizaram conhecimento prévio de direções de sinais oriundos de usuários estáticos. Porém, este conceito está limitado a direções de chegada conhecidas. Esta tese apresenta várias contribuições para superar os problemas mencionados anteriormente. Introduz-se um novo conceito de conhecimento a priori aplicado à estimação de direção, substituindo-se as tradicionais direções de chegada disponíveis por estimativas preliminares obtidas on-line. Tal ideia é incorporada aos algoritmos propostos e suas extensões. Também é introduzido um conceito para a estimação da matriz de covariância de dados reduzindo-se iterativamente os seus subprodutos que ocorrem na região finita de amostras. Esta abordagem é complementada por uma análise da matriz de covariância modificada, que mostra que, após a primeira iteração, o Mean Squared Error (MSE) da matriz de covariância de dados livre desses subprodutos é menor ou igual ao MSE da matriz de covariância de dados original. Combinando-se os dois conceitos anteriormente descritos, obtém-se um novo método denominado Multi-Step Knowledge-Aided Iterative (MS-KAI) que eleva a precisão de algoritmos existentes. Inicialmente, o método MS-KAI é usado com Uniform linear Arrays (ULAs) e é combinado com o algoritmo Estimation of Signal Parameters via Rotational Invariance Techniques, resultando no algoritmo proposto MS-KAI-ESPRIT. O método é então ampliado para uso com um número arbitrário de iterações e combinado com o algoritmo Gradiente Conjugado, resultando no algoritmo MS-KAI-CG. Finalmente, ele é usado com arranjos aninhados e combinado com o algoritmo Multiple Signal Classification, resultando no algoritmo proposto MS-KAI-MUSIC. Simulações mostram que o método MS-KAI eleva a precisão de algoritmos baseados em subespaços, empregando modelos de sinais baseados em ULAs e non-ULAs. / [en] Most conventional methods and algorithms for direction finding suffer from poor accuracy when subjected to scenarios characterized by closely spaced sources, short data records and correlated source signals. In the last few years, some approaches to overcoming these problems have exploited prior knowledge of signal directions coming from static users. However, this concept is restricted to known directions of arrival. This thesis presents several contributions to dealing with the aforementioned problems. A novel concept of a priori knowledge applied to direction finding is first presented, which replaces the traditional available known DOAs so far employed with previous estimates obtained on line. This idea is then incorporated into the proposed algorithms and their extensions. Another approach is also introduced to estimating the data covariance matrix by iteratively reducing its by-products, which occurs in the finite sample region. This concept is complemented by a reshaped covariance matrix analysis, which shows that after the first iteration the Mean Squared Error of the data covariance matrix free of these side effects is less than or equal to the MSE of the original one. A novel method, termed Multi-Step Knowledge-Aided Iterative (MS-KAI), for increasing the accuracy of existing algorithms based on the combination of the previous concepts is then developed. The MS-KAI method is initially employed with Uniform Linear Arrays (ULAs) and is combined with the Estimation of Signal Parameters via Rotational Invariance Techniques algorithm, resulting in the proposed MS-KAI-ESPRIT algorithm. Then, MS-KAI is extended for use with an arbitrary number of iterations and combined with the Conjugate Gradient algorithm, resulting in the MSKAI- CG algorithm. Finally, the MS-KAI method is considered with nested arrays and combined with the Multiple Signal Classification algorithm, resulting in the proposed MS-KAI-MUSIC algorithm. Simulation results show that MS-KAI method enhances the accuracy of subspace based algorithms employing ULA and non-ULA based system models.

De nos jours, il existe de nombreuses antennes de radiogoniométrie UHF large bande ou multibandes, néanmoins très peu d’entre elles permettent une couverture angulaire 3D. A notre connaissance, la première antenne de radiogoniométrie 3D fût étudiée dans les années 1960, par une équipe de l’université du Michigan. Composée de 17 capteurs positionnés sur une surface hémisphérique, sa taille et son nombre d’éléments en font un dispositif encombrant et complexe à utiliser. De récentes études ont proposé une autre approche basée sur la mesure multicomposante du champ électromagnétique, permettant de réduire la taille des antennes et le nombre d’éléments tout en conservant une couverture angulaire 3D. Cependant, à ce jours, seul des systèmes HF (3MHz-30MHz) ou bande étroite ont été abordés. Cette thèse porte donc sur l’étude et le développement d’une antenne vectorielle UHF multibande appliquée à la radiogoniométrie 3D pour des ondes transverses magnétiques. Tout d’abord, deux techniques de goniométrie adaptées à cette approche sont confrontées : une nouvelle technique basée sur la décomposition en harmonique sphérique du rayonnement de l’antenne qui permet de recomposer le champ électromagnétique reçu à partir d’échantillons mesurés et un algorithme bien connu, MUSIC. Une méthodologie de conception est proposée, en identifiant les critères physiques des antennes vectorielles qui influent sur leurs performances à savoir la précision d’estimation, la sensibilité, le nombre d’éléments et l’encombrement. Cette méthode est utilisée pour développer et réaliser une première antenne vectorielle monobande. La caractérisation de cette antenne réaliste permet d’écarter la première technique de traitement dont les performances sont trop sensibles aux perturbations de rayonnement. Une antenne vectorielle bibande compacte, d’un rayon de λ/4 et d’une hauteur de λ/5.5 à la fréquence la plus basse, composée de seulement six éléments rayonnants couvrant chacun les bandes de fréquences GSM [890MHz-960MHz] et [1710MHZ-1880MHz] est ensuite développée en se basant sur cette méthode de conception. Les capteurs électriques et magnétiques constituant l’antenne sont étudiés séparément puis assemblés selon une répartition spatiale planaire pour restreindre l’encombrement. Les structures rayonnantes sont communes pour les deux bandes de fréquences ce qui permet réduire le nombre d’éléments ainsi que les éventuelles perturbations de rayonnement. Après la caractérisation de l’antenne bibande au travers de simulations numériques, un prototype est réalisé et ses performances d’estimation sont mesurées en chambre anéchoïque afin de valider l’approche par simulation. La sensibilité obtenue est de -110dBW/m² (85μV/m) pour une précision de 5° RMS. Enfin l’étude est élargie au cas général d’antennes multibandes en illustrant le processus d’extension de la couverture fréquentielle par l’ajout d’une troisième bande, [400MHz-430MHz]. Six nouveaux éléments sont donc développés et intégrés aux capteurs GSM existants afin d’obtenir une antenne tribande d’un rayon de λ/3.2 et d’une hauteur de λ/12.5 à 400MHz. Malgré une légère augmentation de l’erreur d’estimation, causée par la présence de ces nouveaux éléments, la caractérisation de cette nouvelle antenne tribande montre de bonnes performances d’estimation avec une sensibilité de -105dBW/m² (155μV/m) pour une précision de 5° RMS. / Nowadays, a lot of wideband or multiband direction finding antennas operating in the UHF band exist. Nevertheless, only few of them allow to estimate the direction of arrival in the full 3D space. At the author’s knowledge, the first 3D direction finding antenna was studied in the 1960s, at the University of Michigan. Composed of 17 sensors, located on a large hemispherical surface, this antenna is bulky and complex to use. Recently, some studies have proposed another approach based on the multicomponent measurement of the electromagnetic field that allows to decrease the antennas size and the number of radiating elements without reducing the 3D angular coverage. However, only HF (3-30MHz) or narrowband systems have been reported. The objective of this PhD is to study and to develop an UHF multiband vector sensor applied to the estimation of the direction of arrival of transverse magnetic waves in the full 3D space. Firstly, two signal processing techniques adapted to this approach are compared : a new technique based on the spherical harmonic decomposition of the antenna radiation which allows to recompose the received electromagnetic field from the measured samples and a well-known high resolution algorithm called MUSIC. A design methodology allowing to identify the physical criteria of vector sensors related to the antenna performances such as the estimation accuracy, the sensitivity, the number of elements and the antenna size is proposed. This method is used for developing and designing a first single-band vector sensor. The results obtained from numerical simulations allow to rule out the first signal processing technique which is too sensitive to the radiation perturbations. Then, a compact dual-band vector sensor operating in the GSM frequency band, [890MHz-960MHz] and [1710MHZ-1880MHz], is developed by using the same design methodology. The antenna size is λ/4 in radius and λ/5.5 in height at the lowest frequency. The electric and magnetic elements which compose the vector sensors are designed separately and then combined according to a planar spatial distribution to retain a compact antenna size. The same radiating structures are used for operating in the two frequency bands in order to reduce the number of elements and the eventual radiation perturbations. After the performances assessment through numerical simulations in each band, a prototype is manufactured and its estimation performances are measured for a validation purpose. The sensitivity is -110dBW.m−2 (85μV.m−1) for a 5◦ RMS angular accuracy. Finally, the study is extended to the general case of multiband antennas by adding a third band, [400MHz-430MHz]. New elements are developed and incorporated into the dual-band GSM sensors to obtain a tri-band vector sensor. The size of this new antenna is λ/3.2 in radius and λ/12.5 in height at 400MHz. Despite a slight increase of the angular errors in the estimation of the direction of arrival caused by the presence of the new antenna elements, the characterization of the tri-band sensor performances by simulation show a good accuracy with a sensitivity valued at -105dBW.m−2 (155μV.m−1) for a 5◦ RMS angular accuracy.

[pt] O problema de estimação de direção (DoA) de chegada é um importante tópico de pesquisa em áreas como radar, sonar, sismologia, vigilância eletrônica e comunicações sem fio. Este trabalho teve como principal resultado o desenvolvimento de um novo algoritmo que combina o método da máxima verossimilhança (ML) estocástica com o algoritmo ganancioso de busca ortogonal (OMP), comumente empregado em recuperação esparsa com Sensoriamento Compressivo (CS). Muito embora técnicas ML sejam consideradas ótimas em termos de erro médio quadrático, atingindo o limitante inferior de Cramér-Rao (CRLB), o menor limitante inferior para a variância do estimador, estas técnicas demandam de modo significante, às vezes inexequível, os recursos computacionais. Por outro lado, a partir de uma variante esparsa da equação de aquisição de dados, o problema de encontrar a solução mais esparsa possível de sistemas de equações subdeterminados com o algoritmo OMP tem sido empregado de modo satisfatório para encontrar as estimativas de direção, porém com muitas oportunidades de melhoria em casos com cenários sujeitos a condições severas. Por exemplo, cenários com acoplamento eletromagnético (EM), baixa razão sinal-ruído (SNR) e um número limitado de amostras temporais disponíveis. O estimador de direção proposto, baseado em coarranjo diferença, denominado OMP com Máxima Verossimilhança Baseado em Lista (LBML-OMP), apresentou uma melhora significativa no processo de estimação em comparação com técnicas tradicionais e modernas, tais como: OMP, Técnica de Limiar Iterativa (IHT) e Classificação de Múltiplos Sinais Espacialmente Suavizados (SS-MUSIC). A técnica proposta utiliza uma lista de candidatos gerada a partir da solução do algoritmo OMP original e decide pelo melhor a partir de uma busca limitada utilizando o estimador ML estocástico, o que justifica seu uso em cenários práticos. Para a amostragem dos sinais no ambiente, arranjos lineares não-uniformes clássicos e modernos foram empregados, tais como Arranjos Aninhados de Segunda Ordem (NAQ2), Arranjos Aninhados de Segunda Ordem Aperfeiçoados (SNAQ2), Arranjos de Redundância Mínima (MRA) e Arranjos Coprimos (CPA). Além disso, a estimação foi realizada considerando-se o efeito do acoplamento EM e ruído. Ainda, um novo modelo para estimação de direção em coarranjo diferença foi desenvolvido. Este modelo considera o número de amostras temporais finitas (não-assintótico) e mostrou melhora significativa quando do seu emprego no processo de estimação de direção de todos os algoritmos considerados, não apenas o LBML-OMP, evidenciando fontes secundárias de erro no modelo original estabelecido. De forma a complementar o trabalho, um algoritmo de atenuação de ruído chamado OMP aleatorizado (RandOMP) foi utilizado para aumentar a precisão da estimação em cenários com condições de ruído severas. Neste sentido, as contribuições deste trabalho estão relacionadas principalmente ao desenvolvimento de um novo algoritmo e um novo modelo de transformação em coarranjo diferença de modo a melhorar as estimativas de direção das fontes com arranjos lineares não-uniformes. Além disso, enfatiza-se o emprego de diferentes geometrias para as simulações, tornando-se evidente o impacto da posição dos sensores nas curvas de raiz quadrada do erro médio quadrático (RMSE). / [en] The Direction of Arrival (DoA) estimation or Direction Finding (DF) is a relevant topic for research in areas such as radar, sonar, seismology, electronic surveillance, and wireless communications. This thesis devises a new algorithm that combines a stochastic Maximum Likelihood (ML) method with the widely-known Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP) greedy algorithm, commonly used in sparse recovery with Compressive Sensing (CS). Even though ML techniques are known to be optimal in the mean-squared error sense, achieving the Cramér-Rao Lower Bound (CRLB), the tighter lower bound on estimator variance, they demand a significant, sometimes infeasible, amount of computational resources. On the other hand, departing from a sparsified variant of the data acquisition equation, the problem of finding the sparsest solution of underdetermined systems of equations with OMP has been employed successfully to find the DoA estimates, but with many opportunities for improvement in cases of challenging scenarios. For instance, scenarios with electromagnetic (EM) coupling, low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and a limited number of available snapshots (time samples). The proposed difference coarray DoA estimator termed List-Based Maximum Likelihood OMP (LBML-OMP) has shown substantial improvements over traditional and modern techniques, such as OMP, Iterative Hard Thresholding (IHT), and Spatial Smoothing Multiple Signal Classification (SS-MUSIC). It uses a list of candidates generated from the OMP solution and decides for the best based on a limited search using the stochastic ML rule. Thus, it does not perform a grid search with the ML estimator, and this justifies its use in practical scenarios. For the sensing of space-time field, classic and modern non-uniform linear arrays are employed, such as 2-nd Order Nested Array (NAQ2), 2-nd Order Super Nested Array (SNAQ2), Minimum Redundancy Array (MRA), Minimum Hole Array (MHA), and Coprime Array (CPA). Additionally, the estimation is performed under the assumption of EM coupling and noise as disturbing side effects. Furthermore, a new model for difference coarray DoA estimation is developed. It accounts for the finite number of snapshots and has shown to increase the estimation accuracy for all the algorithms, not only LBML-OMP, evidencing secondary sources of error for the difference coarray transformation. To complement the work, a denoising algorithm called Randomized OMP (RandOMP) was applied to successfully increase the estimation accuracy for difference coarray estimators in scenarios with severe noisy conditions. The contributions of this work relate mainly to the development of a new algorithm and a new difference coarray transformation to improve the DoA estimation accuracy with non-uniform linear arrays. Also, it should be noticed the employment of different geometries for the numerical experiments, making evident the impact of the array sensors positions in the root mean square error (RMSE) curves.

Direction Finding (DF) algorithms are used by the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) in the context of electronic warfare against radio. Parallelizing these algorithms using a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) might improve performance, and thereby increase military support capabilities. This thesis selects the DF algorithms Correlative Interferometer (CORR), Multiple Signal Classification (MUSIC) and Weighted Subspace Fitting (WSF), and examines to what extent GPU implementation of these algorithms is suitable, by analysing, implementing and evaluating. Firstly, six general criteria for GPU suitability are formulated. Then the three algorithms are analyzed with regard to these criteria, giving that MUSIC and WSF are both 58% suitable, closely followed by CORR on 50% suitability. MUSIC is selected for implementation, and an open source implementation is extended to three versions: a multicore CPU version, a GPU version (with Eigenvalue Decomposition (EVD) and pseudo spectrum calculation performed on the GPU), and a MIXED version (with only pseudo spectrum calculation on the GPU). These versions are then evaluated for angle resolutions between 1° and 0.025°, and CUDA block sizes between 8 and 1024. It is found that the GPU version is faster than the CPU version for angle resolutions above 0.1°, and the largest measured speedup is 1.4 times. The block size has no large impact on the total runtime. In conclusion, the overall results indicate that it is not entirely suitable, yet somewhat beneficial for large angle resolutions, to implement MUSIC using GPU computing.

La radiogoniométrie joue un rôle crucial dans diverses applications, aussi bien civiles que militaires, liées soit à la radionavigation ou à la radiolocalisation. La plupart des antennes de goniométrie opèrent sur une large bande de fréquences, mais seule une minorité d’entre elles permettent l'estimation de la direction d’arrivée d’un champ électromagnétique incident sur une couverture angulaire 3-D (c.-à-d., l’estimation à la fois des angles d’azimut et d’élévation). Une approche originale permettant d’obtenir une couverture angulaire 3-D consiste à mesurer les six composantes d’un champ électromagnétique incident à l’aide d’une antenne dite vectorielle. L'objectif de cette thèse est de concevoir une antenne vectorielle passive, compacte et large bande afin de couvrir un maximum d'applications. Deux antennes vectorielles ont été conçues, fabriquées et caractérisées expérimentalement. \`A la différence d'une topologie conventionnelle, elles permettent de mesurer les composantes d'un champ électromagnétique incident grâce à la reconfigurabilité en diagramme de rayonnement d'un arrangement original d'antennes Vivaldi. Le premier prototype est monté sur un support métallique fini et permet l'estimation de la direction d'arrivée de champs électromagnétiques polarisés verticalement sur une bande passante de 1.69:1 tandis que le second peut être utilisé quelle que soit la polarisation des champs électromagnétiques incidents sur une bande passante de 8:1. De plus, les performances de goniométrie de ces antennes vectorielles ont été améliorées du point de vue de la précision, de la sensibilité, de la robustesse face aux ambiguïtés angulaires et aux erreurs de dépolarisation en synthétisant de nouveaux diagrammes de rayonnement dans le processus d'estimation. Une méthode basée sur la borne de Cramer-Rao a été élaborée afin de sélectionner efficacement et rapidement les diagrammes de rayonnement supplémentaires. / Direction finding plays a crucial role in various civilian and military applications, related to either radionavigation or radiolocation. Most of the direction finding antennas operate over a wide frequency band, but only a minority of them enable the direction of arrival estimation of an incoming electromagnetic field over a 3-D angular coverage (i.e., estimation of both azimuth and elevation angles). An original approach to obtain a 3-D angular coverage consists in measuring the six components of the incident electromagnetic field through a so-called vector antenna. The aim of this Ph.D. is to design a passive, compact and wideband vector antenna in order to cover a maximum of applications. Two vector antennas have been designed, manufactured and experimentally characterized. Unlike conventional topology, they enable the measurement of the components of an incoming electromagnetic field thanks to the radiation pattern reconfigurability of an original arrangement of Vivaldi antennas. The first prototype is mounted over a finite metallic support and enables the direction of arrival estimation of vertically-polarized electromagnetic fields over a 1.69:1 bandwidth while the second one can be used regardless of the polarization of the incoming electromagnetic fields over a 8:1 bandwidth. Moreover, the direction finding performances of these vector antennas have been improved in terms of estimation accuracy, sensitivity, robustness to angular ambiguity and polarization mismatch by synthesizing new radiation patterns in the estimation process. A method based on the Cramer-Rao lower bound has been proposed to select efficiently and rapidly the additional radiation patterns