Theory and Experiment of Array Calibration via Real Steering Vector for High-Precision DOA Estimation

Adaptive array calibration is a key technique, which significantly affects the performance of array signal processing in real environments. In this letter, we propose a general and simple method using real steering vectors (RSVs) for array calibration and high-precision direction of arrival estimation. The RSVs are constructed with the data sampled at intermediate frequency directly. All errors of the antennas and channels are taken into account. The effectiveness of this method is evaluated by simulation and measurement with a four elements microstrip linear array and a cylindrical conformal array. Both simulation and measurement results show that it is an efficient calibration method and is suitable for arrays with directional elements.