Modeling and numerical analysis of volume array radiation pattern impact on 2D-DOA estimation accuracy considering arrays' aperture angle

This paper tries to obtain the maximum estimation accuracy of 2-dimensional Direction of Arrival (2D-DOA) from the spatial signal resource in the angle approaching the horizon by using the volume arrays pattern synthesizing. For this purpose, the well-known Multiple Signal Classification (MUSIC) and the algorithm Root Mean Square Deviation (RMSD) are used to investigate 2D-DOA estimation accuracy. For accurate design of array structure, the antenna elements' radiation pattern have been considered based on the full-wave simulations along with the mutual coupling and shadow effects. The results show that the volume array structure presented with 13 radiative elements and the two side angles of 30 and 45 degrees has a much better DOA estimation accuracy in all angles especially in angles close to the horizon, compared to the planar array with the same number of radiative elements. Also, at the angle +/- 90 degrees from broadside the presented volume aperture provides a maximum gain of up to 15.4 dBi, which is much more than the produced gain of planar aperture under the same conditions.