Direction finding and beamforming using cylindrical array of dipole antennas in the presence of cylindrical scatterer/reflector including the mutual coupling effect

Abstract

Three-dimensional dipole arrays are normally used at the proximity of a reflective structure. Filamentary short-circuited dipoles are proposed to model the effect of the reflector structure. The computational burden is significantly reduced by using mutual impedance matrices. An analytical method of modelling the effect of the cylindrical reflector in a three-dimensional cylindrical geometry of dipole antenna arrays is introduced both for direction finding and beamforming applications in the presence of mutual coupling. The results of the implementation of the MUSIC (multiple signal classification) direction-finding algorithm show that the proposed model for accounting the cylindrical reflector, in the presence of a mutual coupling effect, has the required efficiency and reduced root-mean-square-error (RMSE). Monte-Carlo simulations for the beamforming algorithm are conducted to evaluate the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) values in the presence of a cylindrical reflector and the results show that the model has the desired performance. The whole process of beamforming and pattern generation has been verified through high-frequency structural simulator (HFSS) simulation. The simplicity, adequate precision and low computational cost of this method can be appropriately used in the cylindrical reflector/scatterer in three-dimensional geometries, especially for base station applications.