Hang-held microwave direction-of-arrival finder based on varactor-tuned analog aerial beamforming

摘要

A newly developed prototype microwave direction-of-arrival (DOA) finder is presented. Varactor-loaded passive radiators around the main monopole radiator steer the beam in the full 360-degree azimuth angles. Unlike digital beamforming (DBF) approaches, only one RF receiver is needed for estimating the DOA. This simplicity provides sufficient light weight for hand-held portability, and low power consumption for 4-hour continuous battery operation.