An Approach to Design and Development of a Wideband Direction Finder Simulator

 

Ivan Pokrajac

Predrag Okiljević

Nadica Kozić

 

In order to provide a tool for design and development of wideband direction finders (WDFs), a simulator of WDF has been proposed in this paper. The aim of this work is to give a hands-on-experience to researchers, students (in laboratory sessions), and to train users of WDF. The simulator consists of two main parts: the first part for generating a superposed signal on the direction finder’s antenna array output, and the second part for simulation of signal acquisition and signal processing (implementation of methods for direction of arrival - DOA estimation). Using the proposed simulator, researchers have the possibility to generate various scenarios in radio frequency (RF) spectrum with different kinds of emissions. The simulator of WDF performs DOA estimation using different methods, such as Watson-Watt, correlative interferometry and high-resolution (multiple signal classification - MUSIC and Root-MUSIC) in combination with different antenna arrays. The simulator is based on MATLAB^® and can be easily used to teach the basic principles of DOA estimation, and to examine influence of various parameters on it, such as geometry and aperture of the antenna array, noise, spectrum occupancy, etc.

Key words: direction finder, wideband device, antenna array, signal generation, simulator, correlative interferometry, electronic surveillance.