Wideband constant beamwidth beamformer for vehicle signal directional acquisition

In recent years, many new beamforming methods have been proposed successively. But most are designed for high-frequency signals and contain very complex coefficient adjustment sections, which are difficult to understand and implement. This paper proposes a novel beamformer with three advantages compared to the existing ones: one is its realization of restricting main beam within 12° with only 10 elements in a linear array. The second one is its potential to replace the complex coefficient adjustment sections with a simple overall weight method. The last one, which is the most prominent one, is its satisfactory effect on low-frequency signals. The effectiveness is verified by applying the proposed beamformer to vehicle signal directional acquisition on the multi-lane highway. Results show that the signal acquired directly is mixed with the surrounding noises and other lanes signals; its SNR is relative low. In contrast, the signal acquired with the proposed beamformer has a significantly improved SNR.