CRB-based comparative study of array signal processing direction finding methods supported with SDR platform implementation

Abstract

Radio Direction-Finding (DF) is an extremely important process in numerous commercial and military applications. Array signal processing-based DF methods have been developed to improve estimation performance in recent applications that require higher resolution and accuracy. Practically, angle of arrival (AOA) estimation is challenging due to various intrinsic and extrinsic parameters that affect the results. Therefore, clarifying these parameters and researching their impact on various DF methods are considered important research topics. The Cramer-Rao Bound (CRB) for estimating AOA is calculated based on a model of a linear antenna array system. This bound identify the factors that significantly impact the estimation performance. The current study conducts a comparative analysis of the most widely used array-signal-processing-based direction-finding (DF) methods under different conditions of the CRB parameters. According to the simulation results, Multiple Signal Classification (MUSIC) AOA estimator provides more accurate and stable results. Accordingly, it is chosen for implementation using a prototype testbed based on Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology using National Instruments Universal Software Radio Peripheral (NI-USRP) platform version 2930. Experimental outcomes were tested at various AOA values. The appendix includes the complete derivation for the CRB relation applied on the system model.