A practical approach to compensate for the mutual coupling effect in an adaptive dipole array

A new method is introduced for the compensation of the mutual coupling effect of a linear adaptive dipole array employed in adaptive ing of interference signals. The new method adopts a practical approach in that it needs only the measured voltages across the antenna terminal loads and an estimated current distribution for the calculation of the mutual impedances. The mutual impedance is defined and calculated differently from the conventional method and the results are more effective to remove the mutual coupling effect. The new method does not require the knowledge of the elevation angles of the signal of interest (SOI) and the interferences and still works if the elevation angles of the SOI and the interferences do not deviate too much from the horizontal direction. This increases the capability of the array to work in three-dimensional signal environments. Computer simulations for a number of rather extreme signal environments have been carried out to testify the robustness and the capability of the new method.