Direction of Arrival Estimation Based on Received Signal Strength Using Two-Row Electronically Steerable Parasitic Array Radiator Antenna

In this paper, we present a novel approach to direction-of-arrival (DoA) estimation using two-row electronically steerable parasitic array radiator (ESPAR) antenna which has 12 passive elements and allows for elevation and azimuth beam switching using a simple microcontroller, relying solely on received signal strength (RSS) values measured at the antenna output port. To this end, we thoroughly investigate all 18 available 3D antenna radiation patterns of the antenna measured in an anechoic chamber with respect to radiation coverage in the horizontal and vertical direction and propose a generalization of the power-pattern cross-correlation (PPCC) algorithm involving a high number of multiple calibration planes (MCP) as well as specific combinations of radiation pattern sets. Additionally, a new way of RSS-based DoA estimation accuracy assessment, which involves thorough testing conducted along the elevation direction when RF signals impinging on the antenna arrive from arbitrary θ angles, has been reported in this paper to verify the overall algorithm’s performance. The results obtained for different signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) levels indicate that two-row ESPAR antenna can produce, even for low SNR values, accurate DoA estimation in the horizontal plane without prior knowledge about the elevation direction of the unknown RF signals by using appropriate combinations of only 12 3D antenna radiation patterns.