Interferometer Array Antenna Spacing Calculation via Phase Difference Transformation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for calculating the spacing ratio of interferometer array antennas in direction finders are either complex or fail to consider phase difference shifts, leading to ambiguity and inaccuracies in determining the azimuth of radio signal sources.
Innovation Solution
A method involving modular arithmetic and linear transformation of phase difference vectors to calculate the spacing ratio, ensuring the distance between phase differences exceeds a desired threshold, thereby avoiding ambiguity and achieving accurate antenna spacing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If probability calculation is used to minimize ambiguity, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-calculating and storing phase difference shift values in lookup tables during system initialization. During actual operation, these pre-computed values are simply retrieved and applied to correct phase differences, eliminating the need for complex real-time probability calculations while maintaining high measurement precision.
2Device complexity
If disjoint sets are used to avoid phase difference repetition, then device complexity is reduced, but measurement precision deteriorates due to uncorrected phase difference shift
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback by continuously monitoring the actual phase difference measurements and comparing them against the expected phase difference patterns. When phase difference shifts are detected, the system uses lookup tables to identify the corresponding shift values and applies corrections to the measured phase differences, thereby maintaining measurement precision while keeping the overall process simple.
3Measurement precision
If array spacing is increased to avoid ambiguity, then measurement precision is improved, but the physical size of the antenna system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by dynamically adjusting the effective array spacing through software-based phase difference correction. Instead of physically increasing the distance between antenna elements, the system modifies the electrical phase difference parameters through lookup table corrections, achieving improved measurement precision while maintaining compact physical dimensions.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for calculating a spacing between antenna elements of an interferometer array antenna includes setting an azimuth of an instantaneous field of view and a distance between phase differences, and obtaining the number of phase difference lines and phase difference vectors with respect to the phase differences of the signals output in a phase comparator of a direction finder, performing a modular arithmetic for the phase difference vectors to obtain phase difference matrixes, obtaining a transformation matrix for linearly transforming the phase difference matrixes and performing the linear transformation using the transformation matrix, calculating a distance between the phase differences on a new axis generated by the linear transformation, and calculating an antenna spacing as an array spacing of the array antenna, the antenna spacing meeting that the distance between the phase differences is greater than a desired distance between phase differences.