Superconducting Quantum Interference Device Array Based High Frequency Direction Finding on an Airborne Platform

This thesis evaluates a new incredibly sensitive highly linear high dynamic range 2D Bi-SQUID array purposed by the dissertation written by Susan Berggren applied to use on an airborne platform for the purposes of HFDF. To evaluate how useful the 2D Bi-SQUID is we explore multiple signals of the same frequency in two different base sensor configurations: Non-uniform phased array and non-colocated Poynting\u27s Theorem based vector sensors. The exploration is performed using the SPIRIT HPC system to calculate the 2D Bi-SQUID output given multiple incident signals. The AoA estimation calculation is performed using the MUSIC algorithm on the signals received on the non-uniform phased array, and the ESPRIT algorithm is used on the signals received on the non-colocated vector sensor. The simulation results show that the MUSIC algorithm using 2D Bi-SQUIDs is able to differentiate two signals that are of the same frequency, but the resolution and accuracy of the algorithm is poor due to the size of the phased array on the airborne platform. The non-colocated ESPRIT using 2D Bi-SQUIDs performs, but still has less than desirable angular error