To solve the problem of coherent signals DOA(direction-of-arrival) based on the uniform circular array, a new VLPEA(virtual uniform linear array principal eigenvector analysis) algorithm was proposed. The uniform circular array was transformed into the virtual uniform linear array in space model by mode excitation, and the principal eigenvector matrix was obtained by data covariance matrix; the weighted least square method was introduced to get the linear prediction coefficient between each element in subspace matrix and to acquire estimation of DOA of coherent signals. Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that the proposed algorithm has good estimation accuracy, high resolution and low complexity.