A 5.8-GHz-Direction of an Arrival Localization Radio System With a Reconfigurable Monopole Antenna Array [Education Corner]

This article presents the design of a complete radio system receiver to detect, in real time, the direction of arrival (DOA) of an incoming industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM)-band signal at 5.8 GHz. When a transmitter continuously sends a binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), modulated pseudo-noise (PN) code, the receiver estimates the DOA based on the received signal strength (RSS) and performs the channel sounding. The device that we describe includes a pattern-reconfigurable monopole antenna array, a front end, and a systemon-module (SOM). The SOM controls the antenna's main lobe direction by positive-intrinsic-negative (p-i-n) diode switching, configures the front-end modules, completes the data acquisition, and performs the digital signal processing (DSP) for the DOA estimation. The system has an average DOA resolution of 90d in the horizontal plane, with a success rate higher than 90%. It is presented as an educational platform for electrical engineering undergraduate and M.S. degree students.