Experimental Study on MUSIC-Based DOA Estimation by Using Universal Steering Vector

MUSIC-based estimation of direction of arrival (DOA) using universal steering vector (USV) is experimentally studied. A fourelement array antenna and a four-channel receiver are employed for the experiment. In order to improve the accuracy of DOA estimation, USV which has already included the effect of mutual coupling between array elements and effect of array elements themselves is compensated to further include the electric delay and loss of four channels in the receiver. The compensated USV (C-USV) approach proposed in this paper does not need the time-consuming measurement of array element pattern because the compensating matrix for USV is obtained by measuring the S parameters between RF input ports of the feeding cables and IF output ports of the receiver. The experimental results of MUSIC-based DOA estimation show that C-USV approach is an accurate, effective and practical method for the MUSIC-based DOA estimation. key words: MUSIC, direction of arrival, array antenna, array element pattern, mutual coupling, steering vector, MoM