U.S. Philips Corporation

David A Lucas

Richard P Vincent

Robert N Alcock

Method of determining the direction of a radio source, wherein, using a circular array of aerials, a sinusoidal phase graph is determined and the direction of the radio source relative to a reference direction is determined from one or more zero crossings of the phase graph.

Method of determining the direction of a radio source and radio

Angular ambiguity, particularly in measurements made in radio interferometers, is resolved by comparing an ambiguous value for a desired angle with an unambiguous value for an angle which is ideally equal to the desired angle but which may differ from it by an error angle less than .pi.. For example, ambiguity in the phase difference between a pair of widely-spaced antennas may be resolved by reference to the sum of two unambiguous phase differences between each of those antennas and an intermediate antenna. The effect on the ambiguity-resolution process of certain sources of phase errors in practical systems can be eliminated, leaving a large tolerance to remaining errors.

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Crawley Down, United Kingdom

David A Lucas