A novel reactance domain MUSIC algorithm for direction of arrival estimation using 13-element ESPAR antennas

Electronically steerable parasitic array radiator (ESPAR) antenna is well known for its low-power consumption, small-size antenna. In this paper, a novel fourth-order MUSIC algorithm using a 13-element ESPAR antennas for direction of arrival (DOA) estimation is proposed based on processing the covariance matrix of the array output signals. Unlike the conventional MUSIC algorithm which is an effective method for DOA estimation, the main motivation of the fourth-order MUSIC algorithm is that it is insensitive to additive Gaussian noise regardless of whether it is white or colored so it can improve the precision of the DOA estimation. By comparing with the conventional algorithm, our proposed algorithm can obtain more than 45dB gain under SNR=10dB, which can obviously show an outstanding performance improvement. Finally, computer simulation results show that the novel algorithm can resolve up to one impinging signal with less than 0.15° under SNR=0dB and provide an estimation with less than 0.6° under SNR=5dB for two impinging signals coming from different angles.