Implementation of a smart antenna system with an improved NCMA algorithm

This paper presents the possibility of using adaptive algorithms for digital beamforming purposes. A normalized constant modulus algorithm (NCMA) is implemented in a standard FPGA. In this way, a simple and non-hardware-intensive, smart antenna system in combination with a software-defined radio (SDR) has been realized for mobile FM reception. A new kind of algorithm initialization, leads to an improvement in startup behavior. The quality in signal separation makes the NCMA algorithm also suitable for MIMO purposes. The NCMA algorithm increases the reception quality for mobile communication systems dramatically.