Effect of mutual coupling and manufacturing error of array for DOA estimation of ESPRIT algorithm

With direction-of-arrival estimation by the ESPRIT method, this paper investigates the effect of short spacing between the transmitter and receiver and of mutual coupling and array manufacturing error on the estimation error. A simulation model is presented. The effect of these errors on direction-of-arrival estimation is quantitatively presented. It is shown that the maximum estimation error is inversely proportional to the distance between the transmitter and receiver and that the ranges and the standard deviation of the estimation errors can be reduced in the range of 0° <θ1 <60° if the manufacturing error is reduced. Further, the validity of the simulation is confirmed by experiments in an anechoic chamber. It is also confirmed that mutual coupling and manufacturing error in the array antenna are the main causes of the estimation error in the direction-of-arrival estimation experiment. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn Pt 1, 89(9): 68–76, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ecja.10230