Reference Loop Phase Shift in Adaptive Arrays

Adaptive arrays for use in communication systems require the generation of a so-called reference signal, which is usually derived from the array output. A particular problem associated with this technique, the problem of reference loop phase shift, is discussed. It is shown that phase shift in the reference loop causes the array weights to cycle, and also causes the array to frequency-modulate the signal. In spite of this frequency change, the array maintains a maximum SNR at the output.