Phase characterization of an 8-channel on-site coding receiver for digital beamforming

Ultra-wideband (UWB) systems combined with the advances in digital signal processing and data handling have drastically reduced the complexity of cognitive and software defined radios. Therefore, techniques such as monopulsing, multiple beams, among others, can be implemented for phased arrays and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) systems. A major drawback in MIMO systems is hardware redundancy after each antenna element. This implies challenges in high power, cost, and area requirements. To this end, a number of hardware reduction techniques at handling the RF front-end have been proposed. They include spatial multiplexing (SM), time-division multiplexing (TDM), and frequency division multiplexing (FDM). But these techniques are based on time slots or bandwidth sharing making them inadequate in terms of resource utilization.