Miniaturized Watson-Watt direction finder: An advancement in vehicle safety

A miniaturized Watson-Watt radio frequency direction finder is presented in this paper for use in automotive communication. The device is used to send a signal from a braking car to other cars in its immediate proximity. The goal is to alert other drivers of a sudden change in the driving pattern which could prove dangerous if not monitored correctly. The hardware was developed as a series of stacked printed circuit boards (PCBs). The angle of arrival for the received signal is determined by analyzing the incoming signal from each dipole array and using a power detector to determine the magnitude and phase of each.