Abstract:Vertical scale feature is the important feature to distinguish underwater real target and conventional scale simulation target. This paper aims at the requirements of target scale estimation of small aperture array, propose a method for estimating the vertical scale of real targets. Through the measured high frequency echo test data of underwater vehicle scale model to estimates vertical scale. The results show that the scale feature of underwater real target can be estimated effectively through small aperture array, and the form of the transmitted signal changes will have different feature of the representation results. The experimental results show that the method is effective.