Investigates the potential accuracy of estimation of orientation of radiation from an extended source, the acoustic model of which is represented by a set of distributed along the aperture and simultaneously radiating elementary sources mono-dipole type. The initial distribution of sound energy along the aperture and the correlation characteristics of the sources are given. It is assumed that the extended source moves parallel to the vector-scalar antenna (VSA), which registers the interference field against the background of sea noise. The calculation of the estimation error of parameters is performed using scalar, vector-scalar and stream components. It is shown that in shallow or deep sea the superposition of low-noise sources, whose parameters were calculated when solving the inverse problem in the wave-water, accurately forms a field equivalent to the field from an extended multi-element source with specified parameters, but the smallest errors are obtained when using vector-scalar or stream processing.
$^1$Southern Federal University\
$^2$Prokhorov General Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences