A Study of Direction-of-Arrival Estimation with an Improved Monopulse Ratio Curve Using Beamforming for an Active Phased Array Antenna System

Abstract

When constructing a wireless communication network, the line of sight of radio waves is limited by the terrain features in a ground communication network. Also, satellite communication networks face capacity limitations and are vulnerable to jamming. Aviation communication networks can solve the above-mentioned problems. To construct seamless aviation communication networks, fast counterpart location estimation and efficient beam steering performance are essential. Among various techniques used for searching the counterpart’s location, the monopulse technique has the advantage of quickly estimating the location through a simplified procedure. However, the nonlinear characteristics of the monopulse ratio curve, which are inevitably caused by the general antenna beam shape, both limit the location estimation range and reduce the estimated location accuracy. To overcome these limitations, a method that improves the estimation accuracy and extends the range by correcting the sum and difference patterns using the beamforming technique of active phased array antennas was proposed. An antenna system model suitable for aviation communication networks was presented, and the proposed model was experimentally proven to be effective. An average angle error of 0.021° was observed in the estimation of the accuracy of the antenna location.