Abstract: In view of the single curvature of cylindrical conformal array antenna, the array output data model for cylindrical conformal array is established. Based on rank-reduction estimator (RARE), subspace principle and well-designed configuration of elements on cylindrical carriers, the decoupling method for elevation, azimuth angles and polarization parameters of sources is implemented, and the 2D direction of arrival (DOA) is estimated by means of one-dimensional search and solution of equations without the exact knowledge of source polarization. In case of coherent sources, the decorrelation solution is presented for cylindrical conformal array. Finally, a blind DOA estimation algorithm for cylindrical conformal array with respect to polarization diversity is proposed. The new method can be applicable to independent and coherent sources, and achieve high-resolution paired 2D (DOA) estimation with low computational burden and no need for parameter matching. Computer simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.