Direction of arrival estimation algorithms for leaky-wave antennas and antenna arrays: Dissertation

The focus of this thesis is to study direction of arrival (DoA) estimation algorithms for reconfigurable leaky-wave antennas and advanced antenna arrays. Directional antennas can greatly improve the spectrum reuse, interference avoidance, and object and people localization. DoA estimation algorithms have also been shown to be useful for applications such as positioning for user tracking and location-based services in wireless local area networks (WLANs).
The main goal is to develop novel DoA estimation algorithms for both advanced antenna arrays and composite right/left-handed (CRLH) leaky-wave antennas (LWAs). The thesis introduces novel modifications to existing DoA estimation algorithms and shows how these can be modified for real-time DoA estimation using both antenna types. Three modified DoA estimation algorithms for CRLH-LWAs are presented: 1) modified multiple signal classification (MUSIC), 2) power pattern cross-correlation (PPCC), and 3) adjacent power pattern ratio (APPR).
Additionally, the APPR algorithm is also applied to advanced antenna arrays.
The thesis also presents improvements to the modified MUSIC and APPR algorithms. The complexity of the algorithms is reduced by selecting a smaller number of received signals from different directions. The results show that the selection of the radiation patterns is very important and that the proposed algorithms can successfully estimate the DoA, even in a real-world environment. Based on the results, this thesis provides a good starting point for future research of DoA estimation algorithms to enhance the performance of future generation wireless networks and the accuracy of localization.