Abstract. The paper examines approaches to determining the angular position of objects by establishing the direction of propagation of radio waves coming from radio emission sources or formed as a result of reflection from objects. The study is carried out within the framework of grant funding for the scientific and technical project “Development of a hardware and software complex for passive direction finding of radio emission sources of aircraft based on artificial intelligence technology” (contract No. 332/23-25 dated 03.10.2025, project No. AR 327016/0225). Research is also carried out in accordance with the decision of the First Deputy Minister of Defense of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan – Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated November 18, 2023, No. 62-3-4068. Within the framework of this area, the Department of Fundamentals of Military Radio Engineering and Electronics conducts a comprehensive study of modern methods for passively determining the direction to radio emission sources. In modern radio direction finding, the accurate and rapid determination of the angular coordinates of radio emission sources, including active jammers, remains a critical task. This requires finding a compromise between measurement accuracy, unambiguous positioning, and equipment noise immunity under complex multipath propagation conditions. This paper conducts a comparative theoretical analysis of amplitude and phase direction-finding methods to systematize their technical limitations and identify ways to overcome them. Using methods of mathematical analysis of radio engineering systems and analytical synthesis of specialized literature, the dependence of equipment sensitivity on the geometry of antenna systems is evaluated. Additionally, numerical modeling of the phase direction-finding method was conducted using the Monte Carlo method by varying the d/λ ratio, signal-to-noise ratio, and signal arrival angle. The analysis shows that the classical amplitude maximum method has low direction-finding sensitivity. Phase methods, conversely, provide higher accuracy; however, as the distance between antennas increases, they encounter the problem of bearing ambiguity. As a result of the study, it is concluded that to achieve the required accuracy and unambiguous measurements, it is most expedient to use combined multichannel approaches. Furthermore, the implementation of modern digital signal processing algorithms (e.g., the MUSIC algorithm) and the use of adaptive antenna arrays can compensate for the impact of destabilizing multipath factors.

Keywords: amplitude direction finding, phase direction finding, detection zone, active jammer, signal, bearing, noise immunity.