Application of high resolution direction finding algorithms in mobile communications

Mobile communication systems based on 3G and 4G technologies use adaptive antenna arrays to increase their coverage and channel capacity. Adaptive antenna arrays involve direction finding and beamforming algorithms to localize and track both signals i.e. users and interferers. This paper presents simulation and analysis of three high resolution direction finding algorithms namely MUSIC, Root-MUSIC and ESPRIT. These algorithms provide an estimate about the number of incoming signal sources and their angles of arrival on an antenna array. Simulation results have been used to evaluate the performance of these algorithms by varying the antenna array parameters such as number of mobile users, number of antenna elements, time samples acquired and signal-to-noise ratio.