Multi-Variable Phase and Gain Calibration for Multi-Channel Transmit Signals
Abstract
A method for software-defined radio array calibration is presented. The method implements a matched filter approach to calculate the phase shift between channels. The temporal stability of the system and calibration coefficients are shown through the standard deviation over the course of four weeks. The standard deviation of the phase correction was shown to be less than 2 deg. for most channels in the array and within 8 deg. for the most extreme case. The standard deviation in amplitude scaling was calculated to be less than 0.06 for all channels in the array. The performance of the calibration is evaluated by the antenna gain and the difference from the ideal beam shape for the peak side lobe level and first null depth. For one example data collection, the gain was 61 dB for the array with a maximum difference of 0.2246 dB for the peak side lobe level and 0.3998 dB for the first null depth.