Multichannel 2-D Direction Finding Based on Differential Amplitude Detection

This paper looks toward theoretical and practical aspects of a new 2-D direction finding method. It promotes a new idea for multichannel azimuth estimation based on amplitude difference of a signal acquired on adjacent antennas. The essence of the method is a simple hardware consisting of small size microwave (7-19 GHz) antennas equipped with amplitude detectors, frequency synthesizer, low power mixed-signal processing hardware, and a small and efficient firmware. Significant advantage of the proposed multichannel approach is simplified detection of infinitely close incoming signals with no theoretical limitation in their number. Different calibration types provide detection nearly undependable of frequency in whole bandwidth of interest. With the aim to complete image of the proposed method, probability of detection and azimuth estimation precision are discussed in this paper. Precision of azimuth estimation is in the range of 5° for encapsulated antennas or 10° in other cases. Proposed method can find application in various engineering fields, including geosciences field research, wireless communications, radio-monitoring, security service, and so on.