On Calibration and Direction Finding with Uniform Circular Arrays

Abstract

Antenna array calibration methods and narrowband direction finding (DF) techniques will be outlined and compared for a uniform circular array. DF is stated as an inverse problem, which solution requires a parametric model of the array itself. Because real arrays suffer from mechanical and electrical imperfections, analytic array models are per se not applicable. Mitigation of such disturbances by a global calibration matrix will be addressed, and methods to estimate this calibration matrix will be recapped from literature. Also, a novel method will be presented, which circumvents the problem of a changed noise statistic due to calibration. Furthermore, local calibration, where array calibration measurements are incorporated in the DF algorithm, is considered as well. Common DF algorithms will be outlined, their assumptions regarding array properties will be addressed, and required preprocessing steps such as the beam-space transformation will be presented. Also, two novel DF techniques will be proposed, based on the Capon beamformer, but with reduced computational effort and higher resolution for bearing estimation. Simulations are used to exemplary compare calibration and DF methods in conjunction with each other. Furthermore, measurements with a single and two coherent sources are considered. It turns out that global calibration enables computational efficient DF algorithms but causes biased estimates. Furthermore, resolution of two coherent sources necessitates array calibration.