Direction-of-arrival estimation with tilted transversal antenna arrays

Previous contributions from the authors considered tilted antenna arrays, where it is possible to obtain radiation pattern s at specified directions. Another important feature of this kind of array, compared to arrays of parallel and aligned elements in the conventional configuration, is a reduced mutual coupling between elements. This can be important in adaptive arrays and in direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation. We simulate DOA estimation in typical cases using the MUSIC algorithm, and we compare the results when using a conventional array and a tilted array. It is shown that the latter configuration has an important application because, due to mutual coupling reduction, it allows a better precision in DOA estimation to be obtained.