A Beam Coding Technique for Direction Finding of Moving Object

Abstract

Direction finding of a moving object has attracted considerable interest in both military and civilian applications. There are different methods used for estimation of object position. One of these methods is to measure an angle of arrival (AOA) of the echo signal from the object using a monopulse amplitude comparison. Based on this principle, the paper presents a method to determine the deviation angle of an object compared to the cross-over axis called beam coding technique. The technique includes an approach for generating multiple beams, which are shifted in steering angles by applying a Rotman Lens or a Butler matrix and the process to index these beams with different Pseudo-Random Noise codes. Practical measurement is conducted to evaluate the usefulness of the proposed technique. The results from the experiment show that the technique can be applied to localize the position of the moving object.