Hybrid smart antenna system using directional elements - performance analysis in flat Rayleigh fading

2926 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 51, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2003
Hybrid Smart Antenna System Using Directional
Elements—Performance Analysis in
Flat Rayleigh Fading
Zhijun Zhang, Member, IEEE, Magdy F. Iskander, Fellow, IEEE, Zhengqing Yun, Member, IEEE, and
Anders Høst-Madsen, Senior Member, IEEE
Abstract—Smart antenna and associated technologies are ex-
pected to play a significant role in enabling broadband wireless
communication systems. Smart antennas exploit space diversity to
help provide high data rates, increased channel capacity, and im-
proved quality of service at an affordable cost. In this paper we
present a new procedure for implementing smart antenna algo-
rithms. It is a hybrid approach that integrates the features of the
switched beam method and the adaptive beam forming approach.
Specifically it is shown that by using high gain antenna elements
and combining the switched beam process with the adaptive beam
forming procedure on a limited number of elements (as low as
two in an eight-element array), a performance close to that of a
more complex eight-element adaptive array may be achieved. The
proposed hybrid method, therefore, is fast, is computationally ef-
ficient, and provides a cost effective approach for exploiting space
diversity. Even with the inclusion of interference signals, the pro-
posed hybrid approach out-performed the switched beam method,
and provided performance similar to that of an adaptive array with
less number of elements (three in an eight-element array). Imple-
mentation of an adaptive array also includes estimations; hence,
reducing the number of elements in an array may lead to improved
accuracy, in addition to fast convergence and reduced complexity.
Index Terms—Adaptive array, hybrid smart antenna, Rayleigh
fading, smart antenna, switched beam.
I. INTRODUCTION
THE DEMAND for increased capacity in wireless commu-
nications networks has motivated recent research activities
toward wireless systems that exploit the concept of smart an-
tenna and space selectivity. The deployment of smart antennas at
existing cellular base station installations has gained enormous
interest because it has the potential to increase cellular system
capacity, extend radio coverage, and improve quality of services
[1]–[12]. Smart antennas may be used to provide significant
advantages and improved performance in almost all wireless
communication systems, including time-division multiple-ac-
cess (TDMA) cellular systems, code-division multiple-access
(CDMA) cellular systems [4], as well as others.
One smart antenna implementation strategy uses an adap-
tive antenna array, whose outputs are adaptively combined
through a set of complex weights (signal amplitude and phase
adjustments) to form a single output with beam steering and
Manuscript received August 7, 2002; revised November 8, 2002.
The authors are with the Hawaii Center for Advanced Communications, Col-
lege of Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822 USA.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TAP.2003.818002
interference mitigation capabilities. Signal processing aspects
for this type of systems have concentrated on the development
of efficient algorithms for direction of arrival (DOA) estimation
[5] and adaptive beamforming. Algorithms for adaptive beam-
forming have departed from the classical least mean square
(LMS) type algorithm [6] to more sophisticated constant mod-
ulus algorithm (CMA) [7] and the eigen-projection algorithms
[8]. Other issues that have been examined include analyzing
the effects of mutual coupling between the array elements [9]
on adaptive algorithms and combating the effects of fading
channels on the overall system [10]. Directional elements were
used in the adaptive smart antenna design [11], but specific
results regarding achieved improvement were not reported.
Another smart antenna implementation strategy uses a
switched-beam antenna array consisting of multiple narrow-
beam directional antennas, along with a beam-selection algo-
rithm. The selection of the activated receive beam is based on
the received signal-strength. The same beam is used for both
reception and transmission. Beam forming is accomplished by
using physically directive antenna elements to create aperture
efficiency and gain [2], [3]. If the received carrier to interfer-
ence ratio (CIR) falls below some preset level during a call,
the base station then switches to the best available beam for
transmission and reception.
In comparing the above two implementation procedures, it
may be noted that adaptive implementations have better per-
formance than switched-beam implementations. This comes at
the expense of relatively higher implementation cost and com-
plexity constraints, as compared with the switched-beam im-
plementation procedure. Furthermore, adaptive algorithms rely
on estimations and this may contribute to slow convergence,
compromise accuracy, and generally, lead to less than optimal
performance.
Dense scattering and cluster angle distribution phenomena of
a multipath environment [13], [14] are well known and are ex-
pected to impact the performance of a smart antenna system.
It would be helpful if a procedure could be developed that will
help evaluate the impact of the propagation environment on the
system performance and provide specific smart antenna designs
for different propagation environments. It would also be desir-
able to develop a smart antenna system with sufficient flexibility
in the design arrangements so as to meet varying conditions in
the propagation environments. It is the objective of this paper
to describe the development of a smart antenna system that pro-
vides considerable design flexibility to meet changes in prop-
0018-926X/03$17.00 © 2003 IEEE

ZHANG et al.: HYBRID SMART ANTENNA SYSTEM 2927
Fig. 1. Adaptive smart antenna system diagram.
Fig. 2. Adaptive pattern of one beam-forming block. Desired signals and
interferences are denoted by solid arrows and dashed arrows, respectively.
agation environment. Accounting for specific and varying as-
pects of the propagation environment will be discussed in a fu-
ture paper.
II. HYBRID SMART ANTENNA SYSTEM
Fig. 1 shows an element adaptive smart antenna receiver
system. Let us assume that the system is required to support
users. For a signal from any user, due to a multipath environment
and the different positions of the antennas, there will be phase
and amplitude differences in the signals received by the an-
tenna elements. The output signal from any element is a partic-
ular combination of all signals and their multipath signals.
These signals will first go through RF to IF blocks, and then
they will be converted to a digital stream by analog-to-digital
converters and sent to the data bus. There are beam-forming
blocks connected to the data bus. Each of these blocks needs to
process digital streams obtained from the data bus, and gen-
erate a pattern to receive the signal from one of the users.
Fig. 2 shows a pattern formed by a beam-forming block
shown in Fig. 1. Multipath signals and undesired interfer-
ences are noted by solid-arrow lines and dash-arrow lines,
respectively. As may be seen, an adaptive implementation
can dynamically point pattern peaks to desired and multipath
signals, and adjust the nulls to cancel unwanted interferences.
With the increase in the number of total antenna elements, the
system complexity increases significantly.
Fig. 3 shows a switched-beam smart antenna system formed
by directional antenna elements. Each antenna covers an
angle range of . As shown in Fig. 4, the system can
automatically switch to an antenna that has its main beam in the
domain of the desired signal. Because the preformed pattern has
a narrow main beam, most multipath and interference signals
will fall into the side lobe range, resulting in suppression of
these signals and improved system performance. Comparing
this with the adaptive implementation, it may be noted from
Fig. 4 that the switched-beam method cannot make full use of
the multipath signals, and cannot be used to cancel interfer-
ences when located in the main lobe. Thus, the performance of
a switched-beam system is less optimal when compared with
an adaptive system. This will also be confirmed in Section IV
by simulation of several representative cases.
Fig. 5 shows a proposed alternative hybrid smart antenna
system. The proposed system described in this paper combines
the advantages of both switched-beam and adaptive systems.
Unlike traditional adaptive antenna arrays, the proposed system
uses directional elements to achieve additional antenna gain. It
does have beamforming capabilities to cancel interferences but
uses a smaller number of signals than traditional adaptive sys-
tems. Through the proper design of the proposed system, it may
be expected that it is possible to achieve a performance sim-
ilar to that of an adaptive system with the advantage of using a
lesser number of signals in the adaptive process. Similar to the
traditional switched beam array process, signal selection will be
based on combining the strongest signals in the overall array.
As shown in Fig. 5, the proposed system inherits part of the
characteristics of the switched-beam system, in that it adopts
directional antenna elements. It will be described in Section IV
that different coverage angles should be chosen in different mul-
tipath scenarios to obtain the best performance. The arrange-
ment in Fig. 5 also borrows some digital beamforming tech-
nology used in adaptive systems, but in this case the beam-
forming will be done more efficiently using a reduced number of
signals. There are additional blocks ( to selector) that se-
lect only the ( ) strongest signal streams from total

Fig. 3. Switched-beam smart antenna system diagram.
Fig. 4. Pattern of switched-beam smart antenna. Desired signals and interferences denoted by solid and dashed arrows, respectively.
Fig. 5. Proposed hybrid smart antenna system. N antenna elements are used to receive M signals. The beam-forming process is performed on a smaller number
(NS < N) of signals.
streams on the data bus. Considering the slow angle move-
ment of mobile users and the relatively wide beamwidth of the
radiation pattern of antenna elements, the to switches do
not need to be updated in real time. It will be shown that in most
cases when using the arrangement in Fig. 5, performance sim-
ilar to that of an eight-element adaptive system can be achieved

by using a value of NS as small as 2. It will also be shown that as
NS increases, the performance will continue to improve; but the
system complexities will also increase and ultimately converge
to a fully adaptive antenna array.
III. ASSUMPTIONS AND DESCRIPTION OF THE
SIMULATION MODEL
Fig. 6 shows a block diagram of an N-element beam forming
smart antenna system. The baseband signal received by the
antenna array is given by
(1)
where and are matrices of the channel transfer functions
of the multipath signal and interferences, respectively. and
are vectors of the multipath signals and interferences, respec-
tively. is the system noise. The channel transfer functions and
the signal vectors are given by
(2)
...
...
...
...
...
...
(3)
...
...
...
...
...
...
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
where operator ( ) indicates the dot product. The element
in the multipath channel transfer function represents the prop-
agation transfer function of the th multipath signal to the th
antenna. The matrix element , on the other hand, represents
the propagation transfer function of the th interference to the
th antenna. Both and are complex Gaussian random
variables. The function describes the antenna amplitude
pattern of the th antenna element. is the angle of arrival of
the th multipath of the desired signal and is the angle of
arrival of the th interference. is the th multipath of the
desired signal. is the th interference. is the noise at the
th antenna, and is modeled as a stationary, complex, Gaussian
process of zero mean and specially white in the processed fre-
quency band. Without loss of generality, all powers were nor-
malized to noise variance. Thus, has complex Gaussian dis-
Fig. 6. Block diagram of an N-element beam forming smart antenna system.
tribution ; and also have complex Gaussian
distribution .
The expected input signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for the de-
sired signal and the expected input interference-to-noise ratio
(INR) for the th interference are given by
(8)
(9)
Operator denotes complex conjugate and denotes
complex conjugate transpose. For omni-directional antenna el-
ements, , the received signal at any antenna element
will be the sum of identically distributed Gaussian signals. The
magnitude of the received signal will thus have a Rayleigh
distribution. A Rayleigh channel corresponds to a multipath
environment where all the arrived signals are multipath signals
and where there is no-line-of sight propagation path for the
desired signal. When there is a line-of-sight signal, the channel
should be modeled as a Rician Channel.
The interference-plus-noise covariance matrix [15] is given
by
(10)
where is an identity matrix. Assuming all propagation vectors
are known, the optimum-combining weights of an adaptive an-
tenna array that will result in interference cancellation is given
by
(11)
The optimum-combining output in this case will be given by
(12)
For performance simulations of a traditional adaptive array,
the distance between adjacent elements is assumed to be a half
wavelength and each antenna is assumed to be omni-directional
as shown in Fig. 7. As may be seen in Fig. 8, the distance be-
tween adjacent elements of a hybrid smart antenna array is also
assumed to be a half wavelength; but, in this case, each element
is assumed to have its own directional pattern.

Fig. 7. Planar (x, y) layout of a traditional adaptive smart antenna array
consisting of omni-directional elements.
Fig. 8. Planar layout of a hybrid smart antenna array consisting of directional
elements.
Fig. 9 shows the pattern used in the simulation of the
proposed hybrid smart antenna system. The pattern has a main
beam with a -degree beamwidth. Neglecting the side lobe
power, the power gain of the main beam may be approximately
estimated as 360 divided by . The pattern has a 20 dB
sidelobe and it should be noted that the initial simulation results
showed no observable difference in the system performance
results when the sidelobe level was varied by as much as
10 dB from the utilized 20 dB value. For the case of an
eight-element array with equal to 45 , the main beam of all
the elements will be placed side-by-side to provide the 360
coverage. If is less than 45 there will be gaps that cannot
be covered by the collective main beams of the eight-element
array, and if is larger than 45 there will be an overlap
between the patterns from the various antenna elements. One
thing that needs to be mentioned is that in (3) and (4)
is the amplitude pattern instead of the power pattern, hence
a square root operator is needed to get from the power
pattern normally measured in antenna characterization.
Two kinds of communication systems, TDMA and CDMA,
were simulated in this paper. For a TDMA system, smart
antennas are only used to overcome multipath fading and no
co-channel interference is assumed. For a CDMA system, all
users share the same frequency and channels are distinguished
by different codes. Each user thus interferes with other users
who are occupying the same frequency band. In a CDMA
system; therefore, a smart antenna is used to overcome both
multipath fading and interference.
Binary phase shift keying (BPSK) modulation is used in all
simulations; therefore, the output of an optimum combining in
(12) can be simplified to . Also, 500 000 random cases
were simulated for each SNR value and for each operating case
of the proposed antenna structure.
Fig. 9. Antenna pattern used for the hybrid smart antenna simulations.
Fig. 10. DOA spread versus Smart antenna performance. Simulation assumes
no interference, optimum combining, an eight-element array and five multipath
signals.
IV. SIMULATION RESULTS
Figs. 10–19 show the simulation results for a TDMA commu-
nications system. As mentioned earlier, this means that the smart
antenna array will be concerned only with the multipath effect
and no interference consideration will be included. Figs. 20 and
21 are simulation results for a spread-spectrum system, thus
simulation results will include both multipath and inference sig-
nals. The following is a detailed discussion of these results.
Fig. 10 and 11 provide reference data on the performance
of a traditional adaptive array. When integrating an adaptive
smart antenna simulation with a propagation model, there are
many different parameters, such as array type, multipath angle
spread, delay spread, cluster behavior, etc. that need to be con-
sidered. Three variables are inspected in this paper. The first is
the number of elements in the array. As expected, more elements
improve the system performance; but also increase the system
complexity. Eight-element arrays are widely used and are con-
sidered as a good tradeoff between performance and complexity.
Hence, in all the simulations reported in this paper, we will use
eight-element arrays. The second and third variables are all re-
lated to the propagation models. One is the DOA spread of a
multipath signal and the other is the number of multipath sig-
nals. The impact of each of these parameters on the overall
system performance was simulated. The following represents
samples of the obtained results.
Fig. 10 shows how the performance of an adaptive system
is related to the DOA spread of multipath signals. The smart

Fig. 11. Multipath number versus Smart antenna performance. Simulation
assumes no interference, optimum combining, an eight-element array and 30
DOA spread.
antenna used in this simulation is a traditional optimum-com-
bining adaptive array with eight omni-directional elements. It
was assumed that there were five Gaussian multipath signals.
The axis is the SNR at each antenna element and the axis
is the bit error rate (BER) of coherent demodulation of BPSK at
the array output. It is clear that when the DOA spread of mul-
tipath signals decreases from 360 to 10 , the system perfor-
mance decreases and the SNR required for keeping BER less
than 10 has to increase by 7.8 dB, from 4.4 to 12.2 dB. The
BER result of a single antenna is also shown as reference by the
dotted line in the same figure. This can be explained in terms of
the fact that when DOA decreases, multipath signals become
more correlated; and hence, cause a decrease in the adaptive
array performance.
Fig. 11 shows the impact of the number of multipath on the
performance of an adaptive antenna system. The simulated
system is also a traditional optimum-combining array with 8
omni-directional elements, and the multipath DOA spread was
selected in this case to be 30 . Results in Fig. 11 show that as
the number of multipath increases from 2 to 12, the system
performance increases and the SNR required for keeping
BER less than 10 is decreased from 17.1 to 6.9 dB. This
improved performance can be explained in terms of the reduced
correlation of the signals at each antenna due to the richer
multipath environment.
For the proposed hybrid smart antenna system, there are five
variables that need to be inspected in the simulations. Besides
the three variables mentioned above (number of elements,
number of multipath, and DOA spread) which are shared
with an adaptive smart antenna system, there are two more
variables that need to be considered in this case. These include
beamwidth of the directional antenna element and the number
of elements that will be chosen for the beamforming process
( in Fig. 5). Simulation results show that the first three vari-
ables have similar impact on the performance of the proposed
hybrid smart antenna design when compared with the adaptive
smart antenna system described above. Thus, only the effect of
the last two parameters will be presented and discussed here.
Fig. 12. Performance of a hybrid smart antenna system as a function of the
beamwidth of the directional elements. Simulation assumes no interference and
that the hybrid array selects and combines two signals from an array of eight
elements of directional antennas. 30 DOA spread was assumed.
The propagation model used in the simulations in both
Figs. 12 and 13 includes five multipath signals with 30 DOA
spread. This 30 DOA spread corresponds to a propagation
scenario for a base station that is installed on top of a building
roof where the use is at a moderate distance from the base
station. It is assumed that there are no obstacles around the base
station antenna and all multipath signals are caused by cluster
reflections around the user.
Fig. 12 inspects how a different antenna beamwidth impacts
the performance of the proposed hybrid smart antenna system. A
different beamwidth also means a different gain because the ele-
ment gain is assumed to be (see Fig. 9 and neglecting the
side lobe power). The hybrid smart antenna used in this simula-
tion selects and combines the two largest signals ( ) out
of the available ones from the array of eight elements. The dotted
line in Fig. 12 shows the results of a traditional adaptive smart
antenna method (optimum-combining eight elements) and is in-
cluded here for reference.
From Fig. 12, it is interesting to note that the 120 beamwidth
hybrid array has the best performance, more specifically, that
the required SNR to keep BER less than 10 is only 0.67 dB
higher than that for a traditional adaptive antenna system.
Results in Fig. 13 confirm the expected performance and
show an improved BER with the increase in the number of
elements used in the adaptive process. It may also be noted
that results for more than two elements in the proposed hybrid
smart antenna array system superpose those for the traditional
adaptive array; hence, the increase in the number of signals is
unnecessary and just adds to the complexity of the system.
As discussed earlier, a hybrid system takes advantage of
both the antenna gain and optimum combining to improve the
overall system performance. Fig. 14 shows a case where a 90
beamwidth system is used in a 30 DOA spread environment.
Different amplitudes were only used to clarify the graphical
illustration. All three antennas were assumed to have the same
gain. In Fig. 14 the second antenna can receive all multipath
signals, but the first and third antennas can only receive part of
these multipath signals. The requirement for an optimum-com-
bining array is that each antenna can receive all multipath

Fig. 13. Performance of a hybrid smart antenna system versus number
of elements used by the optimum combining adaptive process. Simulation
assumes no interference, and the number of signals was changed from one to
five in an eight-element array. Simulations were performed for 120 beamwidth
and 30 DOA spread.
Fig. 14. Example of a 90 beamwidth system used in a 30 DOA spread
environment.
signals with similar amplitude but different phases. Thus, a 90
beamwidth does not provide an optimum multipath combining
system.
Fig. 15 shows a 120 beamwidth system used in the same 30
DOA spread environment. It is clear that, in this case, there is at
least two antennas that can simultaneously receive all multipath
signals within the assumed 30 DOA spread. Although a 120
beamwidth system has lower antenna gain, it achieves a higher
optimum-combining gain and has a better composite gain than
a 90 beamwidth system.
If the element pattern is too wide; however, the element gain
will further decrease and the system performance will subse-
quently decrease. This clarifies the reduction in performance
in the 180 beamwidth case shown in Fig. 12. Considering
the fact that a hybrid smart antenna system only requires
the number of signals to be as small as two (instead of eight
signals) to achieve almost optimum performance, this presents
a very encouraging observation and testifies to the significant
performance improvement in the proposed hybrid system.
Figs. 16 and 17 show simulation results for a propagation
model of five multipath signals with 10 DOA spread. It is a
similar propagation scenario to that used in the simulation of
Fig. 15. Example of a 120 beamwidth system used in a 30 DOA spread
environment.
Fig. 16. Performance of hybrid smart antennas of directional elements
with different beamwidths. Simulation assumes no interference, and that the
hybrid array selects and combines two signals from an eight-element array of
directional antennas. 10 DOA spread was also assumed.
Figs. 12 and 13, but the user is now at a relatively far distance
from the base station and hence, the 10 DOA spread.
Fig. 16 shows how the beamwidth of each element in the array
impacts the performance of the hybrid system. Fig. 17, on the
other hand, illustrates the effect of the number of signals se-
lected for optimum combining (NS) on the performance of the
hybrid system. The results are similar to those shown in Figs. 12
and 13 in that the 120 beamwidth hybrid array provides the best
performance, and that it is possible to select the number of sig-
nals (NS) to be as small as 2, in order to achieve improvement
in the performance.
There is another common scenario in which multipath sig-
nals have a 360 DOA spread that may be of interest to sim-
ulate and analyze. This scenario corresponds to a broad distri-
bution of DOA and may occur for the case of a base station in
a typical Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) and/or other
indoor applications. In this kind of propagation environment,
the base station is surrounded by walls, a ceiling, and furni-
ture. All of which will cause multipath signals. Fig. 18 shows
how different beamwidths impact the performance of a hybrid
smart antenna system in a multipath environment with 360

Fig. 17. Performance of hybrid smart antennas versus number of elements
used by optimum combining. Simulation assumes no interference, and that
the number of signals changes from one to five in an eight-element array of
directional antennas. 120 beamwidth and 10 DOA spread were also assumed.
Fig. 18. Performance of hybrid smart antennas of directional elements
with different beamwidths. Simulation assumes no interference, and that the
hybrid array selects and combines two signals from an eight-element array of
directional antennas. 360 DOA spread was also assumed.
DOA spread. As may be noted, the performance of a hybrid
smart antenna that combines the two largest signals from eight
elements gradually increases with the decrease in beamwidth.
That is different from the situation in the 10 or 30 DOA spread
multipath environments shown in Figs. 12 and 14. The reason
for this is that the fading that occurs in each element is more
independent in a 360 DOA spread environment. Thus the re-
quirement that there should be some overlap among adjacent
beam patterns in the 10 or 30 cases to achieve optimum com-
bining is not valid in the 360 DOA case. In this case, (360
DOA) there is no optimum combining benefits that can be ob-
tained by broadening the elements beam and hence sacrificing
the gain. In a 360 DOA spread environment, higher antenna
gain will provide better system performance. For example in a
45 beamwidth hybrid array, the required SNR to keep BER
used by optimum combining. Simulation assumes no interference, and that
the number of signals changes from one to five in an eight-element array of
directional antennas. 90 beamwidth and 360 DOA spread were also assumed.
less than 10 is 1.1 dB higher than that for an adaptive smart
antenna system. Based on these results, however, one may con-
clude that in a rich multipath environment, gains from narrower
beamwidths are sufficiently small, and therefore, the use of om-
nidirectional antennas is not only justifiable but also suggested
for practical consideration.
Fig. 19 shows how the number of signals chosen for optimum
combining impact the performance of hybrid smart antennas
in a 360 DOA spread environment. The beamwidth for each
of the directional elements is chosen as 90 . The case of one
chosen element is included to represent the traditional switched
beam array. As shown in Fig. 19, to keep BER less than 10 ,
a switched-beam array requires a SNR 3 dB higher from that of
two selected signals out of an eight-element array. When five
signals were selected for optimum combining, results of the hy-
brid smart array superpose those from an adaptive array system.
Figs. 20 and 21 show simulation results for the case of spread-
spectrum (CDMA) type systems. In this case, it is assumed that
there are 20 users in the frequency band besides the desired user.
All other users were uniformly distributed in the 360 range.
The expected interference power from each cofrequency band
user is 1/20 of that of the total noise. Since noise is normalized
to one, the expected power of total interferences will, therefore,
be 1, and this means that the expected interference to noise ratio
is equal to 1. We also assumed five multipath signals and 30
multipath DOA spread.
Fig. 20 shows how the beamwidth of each element in the array
impacts performance of the hybrid smart antenna system. It is
similar to the simulation results presented earlier without in-
terference. Once again beamwidth of radiating elements makes
only a small impact on the overall performance. It may be noted
that the 120 beamwidth of each element in the proposed hy-
brid smart antenna array would provide a slight improvement in
performance over other simulated beamwidth values. To keep
BER less than 10 , the proposed hybrid antenna needs a SNR
1.95 dB higher than the traditional adaptive smart antenna. This
value, however, is higher than the 0.67 dB difference we ob-
tained in the earlier simulations without interference. The dotted

Fig. 20. Performance of hybrid smart antennas as a function of the beamwidth
of the directional elements. Interference was included in this simulation, and
the hybrid array was assumed to choose and combine two signals from an
eight-directional element antenna array. A 30 DOA spread was also assumed.
used by optimum combining. Interference was included in the simulation, and
the hybrid array was assumed to choose one to five signals from eight directional
elements. 120 beamwidth and 30 DOA spread were also assumed.
line in Fig. 20 is for the reference adaptive array. It may be also
noted that with the proposed presence of interferences in the
simulated CDMA system, the performance of the adaptive array
was also degraded.
Fig. 21 shows the effect of the number of selected signals
NS on the performance of the proposed hybrid smart antenna
system. As shown in Fig. 21, three signals (instead of two as
in earlier no-interference simulations) provide excellent com-
bining results and the SNR needed to keep BER less than 10
is 0.7 dB higher than that for a traditional adaptive array.
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper we described a hybrid approach that integrates
features of the switched beam smart antenna method with
the beam forming approach of the adaptive antenna array
technology. Unlike adaptive antenna array, the proposed
method utilizes high gain antennas, and unlike the switched
beam smart antenna approach, the proposed method performs
a beam forming process on a smaller number of elements
within the array. In the simulation results we assumed an
antenna pattern that consists of one main lobe and a 20 dB
side lobe arrangement. An eight-element antenna array was
used throughout this study. Parameters studied include the
beam width of the radiation pattern of the array elements, the
number of multipath signals, the DOA spread, and the number
of elements involved in the beam forming process. In all cases
and even after the inclusion of interference signals, it is shown
that the proposed hybrid process is more efficient as it utilizes
a smaller number of signals (two to three instead of eight) in
the beam forming process while providing BER values similar
to those that can be achieved when using the entire eight
signals in the adaptive array. The reduced number of elements
also suggests reduced complexity and cost in performing the
adaptive signal processing, and even possible improvement in
performance as the adaptive process often involves a number
of estimations. Specific analysis of the role of estimation on
the performance of an adaptive antenna and the impact of a
reduced number of estimations on the possible improvement in
the accuracy and performance will be discussed in a separate
article. Simulation results also showed a less significant impact
of the antenna element beamwidth on the overall performance
of the proposed hybrid system. For practical consideration,
omnidirectional elements might as well be used. In this study
we used the two or three largest signals from the eight-element
array in the optimum-combining process. This may or may not
be the best selection depending on the multipath environment.
This aspect of the study needs further simulation that will be
reported in a future article. Currently, on-going research efforts
include taking into account the characteristics of the propa-
gation environment, and the possible inclusion of parameters
such as polarization diversity in evaluating the performance
of the proposed hybrid antenna array system. Another area
of research that is now being pursued is an experimental
verification of some of the reported observations by combining
the outputs of a set of omni-directional antennas using a Butler
matrix. This idea was proposed by one of the reviewers. The
most important outcome from the present study; however, is
related to the possible use of a smaller number of signals in
the optimum-combining adaptive process while maintaining
a performance similar to that of a fully adaptive, and, hence,
more complex approach.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to acknowledge the constructive comments
and suggestion provided by the reviewers. Their kind effort cer-
tainly contributed to the quality of this publication.
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Zhijun Zhang (M’00) received the B.S. and M.S.
degrees in electrical engineering from the University
of Electronic Science and Technology of China,
Chengdu, in 1992 and 1995, respectively, and the
Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Tsinghua
University, Beijing, China, in 1999.
From 1999 to 2001, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow
with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Uni-
versity of Utah. He was appointed a Research Assis-
tant Professor in same the Department in 2001. He
was with the University of Hawaii in 2002, where he
was an Assistant Researcher. He joined Amphenol Mobile in 2002, where he is
currently a Senior Staff Antenna Development Engineer.
Magdy F. Iskander (F’93) is the Director of the
Hawaii Center for Advanced Communications
(HCAC), College of Engineering, University of
Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu. He was a Professor
of Electrical Engineering and the Engineering
Clinic Endowed Chair Professor at the University of
Utah for 25 years. He was also the Director of the
Center of Excellence for Multimedia Education and
Technology. From 1997 to 1999, he was a Program
Director, in the Electrical and Communication
Systems Division of the National Science Foun-
dation (NSF). At NSF, he formulated and directed a “Wireless Information
Technology” initiative in the Engineering Directorate and funded over 29
projects in the microwave/millimeter wave devices, RF MEMS technology,
propagation modeling, and the antennas areas. He edited the special issue of
the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, May 2002, which
included contributions from the NSF funded projects. In 1986, he established
the Engineering Clinic Program to attract industrial support for projects for
undergraduate engineering students and has been the Director of this program
since its inception. To date, the program has attracted more than 115 projects
sponsored by 37 corporations from across the US. The Clinic Program now
has an endowment for scholarships and a professorial chair held by the Di-
rector at the University of Utah. He spent sabbatical and other short leaves at
Polytechnic University of New York; Ecole Superieure D’Electricite, France;
UCLA; Harvey Mudd College; Tokyo Institute of Technology; Polytechnic Uni-
versity of Catalunya, Spain; and at several universities in China. He has pub-
lished over 170 papers in technical journals, has nine patents, and has made
numerous presentations in technical conferences. He authored a textbook on
Electromagnetic Fields and Waves (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall: 1992);
edited the CAEME Software Books (Vol. I, 1991, and Vol. II, 1994); and edited
four other books on Microwave Processing of Materials, (Materials Research
Society, 1990–1996). He edited four special issues of Journals including two
for the Journal of Microwave Power, and a special issue of the ACES Journal.
He also edited the 1995 and 1996 proceedings of the International Conference
on Simulation and Multimedia in Engineering Education. He is founding ed-
itor of the journal, Computer Applications in Engineering Education (CAE),
(Wiley), which received the Excellence in Publishing award in 1993. His on-
going research contracts include “Propagation Models for Wireless Commu-
nication,” funded by the Army Research Office and NSF; “Low-Cost Phased
Array Antennas,” funded by both the Army Research Lab and NSF; “Electroni-
cally tunable microwave devices,” funded by Raytheon, “Microwave Processing
of Materials,” funded by Corning, Incorporated; and the “Conceptual Learning
of Engineering” project funded by NSF.
Dr. Iskander received the 1985 Curtis W. McGraw ASEE National Research
Award, 1991 ASEE George Westinghouse National Education Award, 1992
Richard R. Stoddard Award from the IEEE EMC Society, and the 2000
University of Utah Distinguished Teaching Award. He was a member of the
WTEC panel on “Wireless Information Technology,” and the Chair of the
Panel on “Asia Telecommunications” sponsored by DoD and organized by
the International Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in 2000–2001. As part
of these studies, he visited many wireless companies in Europe, Japan, and
several telecommunications institutions and companies in Taiwan, Hong Kong,
and China. He was a member of the National Research Council Committee on
Microwave Processing of Materials. He organized the first “Wireless Grantees
Workshop” sponsored by NSF and held at the National Academy of Sciences,
in 2001. He was the 2002 President of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation
Society, the Vice President in 2001, and was a member of the IEEE APS
AdCom from1997 to 1999. He was the General Chair of the 2000 IEEE AP-S
Symposium and URSI meeting in Salt Lake City, UT, and was a Distinguished
Lecturer for the IEEE AP-S (1994–1997). While serving as a distinguished
lecturer of the IEEE, he has given lectures in Brazil, France, Spain, China,
Japan, and at a large number of U.S. universities and IEEE chapters.
Zhengqing Yun (M’98) received the Ph.D. degree
in electrical engineering from Chongqing University,
Chongqing, China, in 1994.
He was a Postdoctoral fellow from 1995 to 1997
with the State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves,
Southeast University, Nanjing, China. From 1997 to
2002, he was with the Electrical Engineering Depart-
ment, University of Utah. He is currently an Assis-
tant Researcher with the Hawaii Center for Advanced
Communication, University of Hawaii, Manoa. His
recent research interests include development of nu-
merical methods, modeling of radio propagation for wireless communications
systems including MIMO, and design and simulation of antennas.
Dr. Yun was the recipient of the 1997 Science and Technology Progress
Award (1st Class) presented by The State Education Commission of China.
Anders Høst-Madsen (M’95–SM’02) was born in Denmark in 1966. He re-
ceived the M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering in 1990 and the Ph.D. degree
in mathematics in 1993, both from the Technical University of Denmark.
From 1993 to 1996 he was with Dantec Measurement Technology A/S, Den-
mark, from 1996 to 1998 he was an Assistant Professor with the Kwangju Insti-
tute of Science and Technology, Korea, and from 1998 to 2000, he was an As-
sistant Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
University of Calgary, Canada, and a staff scientist at TR Labs, Calgary. In 2001
he joined the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Hawaii, as an
Assistant Professor. He has also been a visitor with the Department of Mathe-
matics, University of California, Berkeley, through 1992. His research interests
are in statistical signal processing and wireless communications, including mul-
tiuser detection, equalization, and ad hoc networks.

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