Direction of arrival estimation from secondary surveillance radar signals in presence of hardware imperfections

The focus of this paper is to investigate the robustness of some commonly applied algorithms for direction of arrival (DOA) estimation against hardware imperfections and carrier offset. The examined hardware parameters are coupling of antenna array elements and inhomogeneous gain and phase of analog frontends. Simulation results are confirmed by measurements on real receiver hardware using ADS-B airborne positions to determine a DOA reference. The outcomes point out a highly suited algorithm for secondary surveillance radar scenarios.