Aiming at the problem of fast estimation of array radar signal source number.a method based on canonical correlation matrix is proposed, The receiver channels of arrayradar are divided into two separated secondary subarrays. The canonical correlation matrix isconstructed by using the received signals of the two separated subarrays, and the correlationfactors are obtained, The signal source number is equal to the number of correlation factorexceeding the threshold. The threshold can be obtained according to the false alarmprobability. The results show that the mothed improves the real-time performance, andreduces the amount of computation, The environmenta adaptability is improved by avoidingthe judgment failure due to the hypothesis mismatch of noise statistical characteristics.