Study of antenna arrays for direction finding

Abstract: The new Bluetooth standard (Bluetooth 5.1) contains direction finding specifications. Specifications for received signal strength indicator(RSSI) using measures of signal strength in order to give a sense of how far away an object is has been present in earlier versions. It will now be accompanied with the possibility of angle of arrival estimation(AoA). AoA estimation in Bluetooth utilizes antenna arrays. Antenna arrays are formations of many individual antenna elements working together. The difference between the measured data at each antenna is dependent on the orientation and position of the antenna elements as well as on phase of an incoming electromagnetic signal. By looking at the phase shifts between the antenna elements in an antenna array it is possible to find an estimation of the direction of where the incoming signal is coming from.  The goal of this thesis is to investigate if the NicheTM antenna(concept developed by Proant AB) is applicable for AoA estimation. In the project we have simulated the different characteristics of the Niche antenna and done extensive simulations of different types of configurations of an Niche antenna array. The commercial electromagnetics simulator CST MW studio suite has been used for simulations. A formation that works well with regards to stability and mutual coupling has been found. The simulated results have also been confirmed by measurements on a mechanically constructed antenna array. Measurements have been carried out in an anechoic chamber. We have done full radiation pattern measurements of the antenna array. The antenna array that we have created can estimate the angle of arrival of an incoming signal with an accuracy of 2.7o with a certainty of one standard deviation. For increased accuracy in the AoA estimation a MATLAB code utilizing the MUSIC(MUltiple SIgnal Classification) algorithm with our variant of the steering vector has been written.