INA Academy Workshop

Spectrum Management Series

Workshop 3: "Measurements and
Techniques"

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Part 2: Array Signal Processing,

Errors, Location Calculation
Prof. Venceslav Kafedziski
University "Ss Cyril and Methodius"
Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
Outline
È Correlative interferometer.
È Antenna array processing techniques.
È Classical beamforming.
È High resolution methods: Capon's beamformer.
È High resolution methods: Subspace methods (MUSIC).
È Display of bearings.
È Classification of bearings.
È Error sources.
È Location calculation: method of triangulation and single
site location.

2
 Array processing
È Classical DF methods usually use several antennas or
antenna arrays to measure phase differences.
È Modern DF methods make use of all the information
received on different elements of the antenna array.
È Array signal processing finds applications in mobile
communications, radar, sonar, seismic exploration.
È Next generations of wireless systems will use antenna
arrays - smart antennas. The goal is to enhance the
desired signal, and null or reduce interference.
È Direction finding in multipath conditions also uses smart
antennas.

3
 Antenna array basics
È angle å is the azimuth and
=90o-elevation angle.
È u(å
)=[1 a1å
 a2(å
) ...
aM-1(å
)] is called i



.
È u(å
) describes the
phases of the signal at
each antenna element
relative to the phases of v  ï s
   v
  ï ù
v   ï ù v
ï s

the signal at the reference

element (element 0). k=2V
is the wave number


Correlative interferometer
È The 

u  


is based on a
comparison of the measured phase differences between
the antenna elements of the DF antenna system with
those obtained for the same antenna system at all
possible directions of incidence.
È The comparison is made by calculating the correlation of
the two data sets (or the scalar product of two vectors
obtained by multiplying the coordinates element by
element and summing the result).
È Using different comparison data sets for different wave
directions, the bearing is obtained from the data set for
which the correlation is at a maximum.
l
Correlative interferometer example
È l-element antenna array used
È each column of the data matrix
corresponds to azimuth direction
å and forms a comparison vector.
È the upper data vector contains
the measured phase differences
È each column of the reference
matrix is correlated with the
measurement vector
È The angle associated with the
comparison vector resulting in
maximum K(å) is the bearing.
ƒ
Antenna array processing
È The development of Digital Signal Processing has
enabled the use of new approaches for direction finding.
È The requirement for a simple and frequency-independent
relationship between the signals obtained on antenna
elements and the bearing no longer applies; complex
mathematical relationships can be efficiently computed.
È High-resolution methods allow the separation of several
waves arriving from different directions
È Methods of direction finding are based on Direction of
Arrival (DOA) estimation. DOA can be converted to
direction relative to the true north.

]
Antenna array processing
È The outputs of the individual
antenna elements are taken to
a network which contains test
signal inputs and multiplexers.
È The signals are then converted
to an intermediate frequency
and digitized.
È The digital data are down-
converted into the baseband.
The complex samples of the
baseband signal ui (i=1,2, ... M)
are filtered and applied to the
bearing calculation section.
m
Beamforming
È Conventional methods of DOA are based on the concept
of 4u 
 
i.e. steering antenna array beams in all
possible directions and looking for peaks in the output
power.
È If the antenna array signals ui are multiplied by complex
weighting factors wi and added, a sum signal is obtained
which depends on the direction of wave incidence.
È With conventional beamforming algorithms the phases of
the weighting factors are chosen so that the weighted
element signals are added in phase and thus yield a
maximum sum signal for a given wave direction.

9
Delay-and-sum method
Antenna element È The output signal is given by a
1 ... M
weighted sum of the element inputs



 s ' 

' j s

'

u1 ... uM È The total output power of the

conventional beamformer is:
w1 wM

' 

 s
  ' 

j   s
  '

 j sj  s '


]
È Äuu is the autocorrelation matrix of
y
the input data vector =[u1 u2 ... uM]'.
10
Beamforming ± block diagram
measurement and storage
S of element signals
multiplication by
weighting factors and
addition for all directions
y

calculation of output power yy*
searching for maximum output
power as a function of direction
direction for maximum power
= bearing
 weighting factors for
all directions
È Since both and  are
complex vector-columns, y is
a complex scalar.
È The maximum of yy* is
searched for.
È The direction corresponding
to maximum yy* is the
bearing.
11
 Beamforming ± regular arrays
È If the antenna array has a
regular geometry, the
weighting factors can be
calculated analytically.
È For a Uniform Linear Array
(ULA) with antenna spacing
D the weights equal to


v
 v *

(assuming that
V can

steer the antenna beam to
any desired direction å0
12
Beamforming - analysis
È Consider a signal s(k) impinging on the array at an angle
åThe power at the beamformer output can be
expressed as
 * s ' 

j  s
  ' 

 * s    s
  ss
  '

 * s
 ã 

㠛

È The output power is maximized when =u(å0). The

receiver antenna has the highest gain in the direction å,
when =u(å0). This is because =u(å0) aligns the
phases of the signal components arriving from å at the
antenna elements, causing them to add constructively.

13
Beamforming - analysis
È In the classical beamforming approach for DOA
estimation, the beam is scanned over the angular region
of interest in discrete steps by forming weights =u(å)
for different å and the output power is measured

 s

  s   s

È If we have an estimate of the input autocorrelation matrix

and know the steering vectors u(å) for all å's of interest
(through calibration or analytical computation), it is
possible to estimate the output power as a function of
the DOA å
called iu ui
. The DOA can be
estimated by locating peaks in the spatial spectrum.
1
Beamforming ± spatial resolution
È The spatial resolution
depends on the mainlobe
width.
È Figure gives an example
for ULA and weights
equal to 1.
È Delay-and-sum method
has a low resolution.
È The resolution can be
increased by increasing
M, but this increases
complexity and storage.
1l
Super resolution DF methods
È If in the frequency channel of interest unwanted waves
are received in addition to the wanted wave,
conventional beamforming may lead to bearing errors.
È If the power of the interference wave component is
smaller than that of the wanted wave component, the
direction finder can be designed to minimize the bearing
errors by choosing a sufficiently wide antenna aperture.
È If the interference wave component is greater or equal to
the wanted wave component, the interference waves
have to be also determined in order to be able to
eliminate them. This means that the secondary maxima
in the spatial spectrum have to be evaluated too.
1ƒ
Super resolution DF methods

È The limits in determining secondary maxima are reached if

± the ratio between primary maximum and secondary
maxima becomes too small, or
± the angle difference between wanted wave and
interference wave is smaller than the width of the main
lobe
È By optimizing the weighting factors, the level of the
secondary maxima can be reduced but at the same time
the width of the primary maximum is increased. The aim of
the super-resolution (SR) DF method is to resolve this
problem.

1]
Capon's method
È Capon's minimum variance method attempts to
overcome the poor resolution problems associated with
classical beamforming.
È The technique uses some of the degrees of freedom to
form a beam in the desired look direction, while
simultaneously using the remaining degrees of freedom
to form nulls in the direction of interfering signals.
È Minimizes the contribution of the undesired interferences
by minimizing the output power while maintaining the
gain along the look direction to be constant (unity):
minE[|y(k)|2]=minHÄuu subject to Hu(å0)=1

1m
Capon's method
È Capon's method is also called a minimum variance
method, since it minimizes the variance (average power)
of the output signal while passing the signal arriving in
the look direction without distortion.
È The output power of the array, as a function of DOA is
given by Capon's spatial spectrum

 s

  s   s

È By computing and plotting the spectrum over the whole

range of å
the DOA's can be estimated by locating the
peaks in the spectrum.
19
Capon's method
È Capon's method has better resolution than the delay-
and-sum method.
È The resolution strongly depends on the signal-to-noise
ratio.
È Capon's method fails if signals that are correlated with
the Signal-of-Interest are present. The correlated
components may be combined destructively in the
process of minimizing the output power.
È Capon's method requires the computation of a matrix
inverse, which can be computationally expensive for
large antenna arrays.

20
Subspace methods
È The i 4iu iare aimed at eliminating the
effect of noise. This can be done by splitting up the M-
dimensional space spanned by the antenna element
outputs into a signal subspace and a noise subspace.
È These methods exploit the structure of a more accurate
data model for the case of arrays of arbitrary form.
È MUSIC algorithm is a high resolution ð ltiple
gnal
lassification technique based on exploiting the
eigenstructure of the input covariance matrix. Provides
information about the number of incident signals, DOA of
each signal, strengths and cross correlations between
incident signals, noise power, etc.
21
 MUSIC

È If there are D signals incident on the array, the received

input data vector at an M-element array can be expressed as
a linear combination of the D incident waveforms and noise


  R s R ù ›

ù ›
R


where ` is the matrix of steering vectors

`=[u(å1) u(å2) ... u(åD)]
i=[s1, ... , sD]' is the signal vector, and =[n1, ... ,nM] is a
noise vector with components of variance ãn2.

22
MUSIC
È The received vectors and the steering vectors can be
visualized as vectors in an M-dimensional vector space.
È The input covariance matrix is
Äuu=E[ H]=`Äss`H+ãn2
where Äss is the signal correlation matrix.
È The eigenvectors of the covariance matrix Äuu belong to
either of the two orthogonal subspaces, the principal
eigen subspace (signal subspace) and the non-principal
eigen subspace (noise subspace).
È The dimension of the signal subspace is D, while the
dimension of the noise subspace is M-D.
23
MUSIC
È The M-D smallest eigenvalues of Äuu are equal to ãn2,
and the eigenvectors i, i=D+1, ... ,M, corresponding to
these eigenvalues span the noise subspace.
È The D steering vectors that make up ` lie in the signal
subspace and are hence orthogonal to the noise
subspace.
È By searching through all possible array steering vectors
to find those which are orthogonal to the space spanned
by the noise eigenvectors i, i=D+1, ... ,M, the DOAs
å1,å2, ... ,åD, can be determined.

2
MUSIC
È To form the noise subspace, we form a matrix n
containing the noise eigenvectors i, i=D+1, ... ,M.
È Then uH(å)nnHu(å)=0 for å corresponding to the DOA of a
multipath component.
È The DOAs of the multiple incident signals can be estimated
by locating the peaks of a MUSIC spatial spectrum

 s
ß
  s› ›ß  s
È The resolution of MUSIC is very high even in low SNR.
È The algorithm fails if impinging signals are highly
correlated.
2l
Examples of Capon and MUSIC
Comparison with classical
beamforming:
(a) Capon beamformer with
SNR=100.
(b) Capon beamformer with
SNR=10.
(c) MUSIC algorithm with (a)
SNR=10.

(b) (c)
2ƒ
Display of bearings
È The display of the DF results is of great importance as
an interface to the operator.
È Distinction is to be made whether the display is the DF
result of a single channel or of a multichannel direction
finder.
È In a single-channel display, the following parameters are
usually indicated: numeric DF value, azimuth in polar
coordinates, elevation as bar graph or polar diagram
(combined with azimuth display), DF quality, level,
histogram of DF values, DF values versus time
(waterfall).

2]
Multichannel direction finders
È ð  u
   
iare implemented with
the aid of digital filter banks (FFT and polyphase filters).
È These direction finders allow quasi-simultaneous
direction finding in a frequency range from some 100
kHz up to a few MHz. Scan mode is additionally provided
to cover larger frequency ranges.
È Usually the following display modes are provided: DF
values versus frequency, DF values versus frequency
and time (e.g. by using different colours for the DF
values), level versus frequency (power spectrum), level
versus time and frequency (using different colours for
level values), histograms.
2m
DF below 30 MHz
È Propagation between transmitter and receiver may involve
different modes, including a ground wave, and single or
multiple reflections on E or F layers of i
.
È Since the horizontal stratification of the ionosphere and
the ion-density are not stable, the reflections are irregular.
È DF operating below 30 MHz are susceptible to errors
induced by reflections of transmissions from the
ionosphere.
È The error in the bearing due to a given angle of inclination
relative to the reflective surface increases with the angle of
elevation of the ray received by the direction finder. Critical
are situations with multiple reflections.
29
Classification of HF bearings
È Reccomendation ITU-R SM.12ƒ9 classifies HF bearings
into four classes: A, B, C and D.
È Classes A, B, C are defined as having probability less
than l that bearing errors exceed 2, l, and 10 degrees
respectively, and class D is for larger errors.
È The errors in bearings are due to: equipment, site of the
DF, propagation, and operator. The total error variance Ä
is equal to the sum of the error variances due to
equipment, site of the DF, propagation, and operator.
È Classes in terms of error variance: Class A for ÄÈ1, Class
B for 1 Ä ƒ.l, Class C for ƒ.l Ä 2l, class D for Ä>2l.

30
Classification of HF bearings
È Series of N measurements can be conducted, from
which the mean and the variance can be computed. If am
is the mean, the variance is computed according to

Ä '  
 v s 
 
'
È To decrease variance, n groups of measurements are
performed on the same transmitter. Each group will have
a different mean value. The variance of the mean is
going to decrease:
Ä
Ä

› 
31
DF above 30 MHz
È A basic system consists of two or more remote-controlled
direction-finding stations and a manned monitoring station.
È System can have two or more mobile stations equipped
with a direction finder and monitoring equipment,
connected via VHF radio data links.
È The bearings are classified for accuracy into four classes:
A, B, C and D.
È Classes A, B, C are defined as having probability less than
l that bearing errors exceed 1, 2, and l degrees
respectively, and class D is defined as resulting in errors
larger than Class C.

32
DOA versus LOB
È It is important to differentiate the direction of arrival DOA
from geographic line of bearing (LOB).
È The DOA does not relate to a geographical direction.
The DOA is a measurement that results in a relative
angle between an emitter and a specific DF antenna
orientation.
È The LOB is a measurement that contains a combination
of the errors introduced in the DOA measurement and
those contributed by the determination of the magnetic
heading as adjusted with the true north deviation. It is
with these factors that a line can be plotted on a map.

33
Error sources
È The DF accuracy is affected by a number of influences:
Wave propagation (usually disturbed by obstacles)
Signals radiated by the emitters are modulated,
limited in time and their carrier frequency is often
unknown
Received field is additionally superimposed by noise,
co-channel interferers
Tolerances and noise in the DF system

3
Multiwave-related errors
È The simple case of a plane wave occurs seldom in
practice. In a real environment, other waves have usually
to be taken into account which result
from other emitters in the same frequency channel
(incoherent interference) or
from secondary waves (caused by reflection,
refraction, diffraction ± coherent in-channel
interference)
È Usually, a large number of waves is involved.

3l
Multiwave-related errors
È The direct wave
component with the
amplitude 1 arrives from
an angle of 90°.
È There is a secondary
reflected wave.
È If the majority of waves
arrives from the direction
of the emitter, the DF
error can be reduced by
increasing the antenna
aperture.
3ƒ
Synchronization errors
È The receive sections of most multireceiver direction
finders are calibrated for synchronism with the aid of a
test generator prior to the DF operation. The
transmission parameters in each section are measured
in magnitude and phase, and the level and phase
differences are stored. In the DF process the measured
values are corrected by the stored difference values
before the bearing is calculated.
È Special attention is to be given to the frequency
response of the filters. Digital filters have the advantage
that they can be implemented with absolutely identical
transfer characteristics.
3]
Synchronization errors
È Consider a 2-element interferometer. Different gain and
phase in the receive sections cause DF errors that are
smaller if the relative antenna aperture D
increases

3m
Modulation errors
È Usually the carrier signal of the emitter is modulated with a
complex modulation function (complex envelope).
È The modulation can affect the DF result in several aspects:
Different envelope delay distortion in the DF channels
With sequential antenna scanning: modulation function is
not sufficiently stationary for the duration of the
measurement or cannot be compensated for by other
measures prior to DF evaluation
Possible decorrelation between the antenna elements if
the spacing between the elements is greater than the
coherence length Lk = c0/B (B is the signal bandwidth).

39
Noise errors
È Interference caused by noise has a limiting effect on the
sensitivity of a DF system.
i   is the field
strength at which the bearing fluctuation remains below a
certain standard deviation.
È Consider internal noise produced in the system (antenna
amplifier, DF converter, A/D converter)
È For a 2-element interferometer the uncorrelated noise in
the two receive sections causes statistically independent
phase variations according to the signal-to-noise ratio
 
ã '

M
0
Noise errors
È Mapping of the phase variation to virtual variations of the
DF antenna positions yields for the bearing error
ã

ã '
 |
È Error is smaller for larger relative antenna aperture D/


1
 Noise errors
È The variations caused by
noise can be reduced by
averaging. The variance
improvement through
averaging over K values is







È Figure shows the two
effects together: antenna
aperture and averaging.
Parameter is SNR[dB] for
bearing fluctuation of 1°.
2
Location calculation
È The location calculation is directly dependent on the
quality of bearings of the various direction finding
stations. Bearings should be analyzed at both DF
stations and monitoring stations.
È At DF stations: classifying the bearings in case of the
presence of interference, eliminating aberrant shootings,
calculating the mean value and the variance of
shootings.
È At the monitoring station: determining the bearings to be
used for the location calculation, calculating the position
of the probable transmission point, calculating the
uncertainty ellipse.
3
Location calculation steps
È Location calculation steps are given in the following
figure.
È The computer program "TRIANGULATION", that
generally follows these steps, is available through ITU.


Determining reliable bearings
È If there exist fast links between Monitoring Centre and
DF stations, the Calculation Centre is provided, for each
direction finder, with a number of elementary bearings. In
that case, simple processing only is used at DF stations.
È For slow links, making reliable bearings should be
performed at the DF station. Making a reliable result is
achieved by averaging the elementary bearings
regarding the signal of interest for the Monitoring Centre.

l
Eliminate non-convergent bearings
È On each shooting, the area
covered by the own angular
error of each of the shootings
is constructed.
È When areas partly overlap,
shootings can be associated.
È The association including the
largest number of shootings
is kept as the best one.
È Shootings that are not parts
of the best association are
discarded.
ƒ
Location calculation
È The optimum point is searched applying the least
squares method.
È If P is any point and d1, d2, d3, ... the angular variations
to be applied to each bearing to intersect P and Ä1, Ä2,
Ä3, ... the variances of various bearings, define
a a  a 


ù ù ù ëëë
Ä Ä  Ä
È The optimum point is the point minimizing Sp.
È The uncertainty ellipse is the area centered around the
optimum point. This calculation is performed from typical
deviations from the various bearings.
]
SSL for HF emissions
È The single site location (

) system allows determining
the geographical position of a transmitter with a single
radio direction-finder. Processing system on data
supplied by the radio direction-finding (azimuth,
elevation) associated with ionospheric predictions,
allows estimating the transmitter distance with regard to
the radio direction-finder, ranging up to 2l00 km.
È SSL radio direction finders simultaneously deliver the
azimuth and elevation angle of the signal received by the
antenna array. Propagation is by ground wave and
ionospheric wave through multiple paths corresponding
to different elevation angles.
m
 SSL
È The basis of SSL is the so-
called Classical Method of
Range Estimation. Assumes
that the actual HF
propagation may be
modeled by assuming that
reflection takes place from a
simple horizontal mirror at
the appropriate height.

9
SSL
È There are two contra-polarized waves (circular or
elliptical) - an ordinary (O) and an extraordinary (X)
wave.
È Location range calculation process: calculating
elevation histograms, filtering elevation diagrams,
determining elevation packets, determining four basic
distances for LH and RH polarization of O and X waves,
and determining the final distance.
È Limitations of SSL: multi-hop propagation leads to
calculated distances which are shorter than the real
distances, and reflection may take place from layers of
different heights.
l0
Conclusions
È Modern Direction Finders use digital signal processing.
È Modern array signal processing methods for DF are used
in conditions when many signals are present and achieve
excellent resolution in the presence of noise.
È To estimate bearing accuracy and calculated location
accuracy it is important to estimate bearing errors.
È Therefore, it is important to understand the error sources
and the classification of bearing errors.
È There is an increased need for monitoring personnel to
understand principles of digital signal processing, which
significantly improves and facilitates spectrum monitoring.
l1
Literature
1. Smart Antennas for Wireless Communications: IS-9l
and Third Generation CDMA Applications, J.C. Liberti
and T. S. Rappaport, Prentice Hall, 1999.
2. Adaptive Filter Theory, S. Haykin, Prentice Hall, 1991.
3. Multidimensional Digital Signal Processing, D. E.
Dudgeon and R. M. Merserau, Prentice Hall, 19m.
. International Telecommunication Union: Spectrum
Monitoring Handbook, ITU, 2002.
l. Introduction into Theory of Direction Finding, Rohde &
Schwarz.

l2