Calibration and linearity issues for an adaptive antenna system

Adaptive antennas are among the favourite techniques to help the current systems evolve towards third generation mobile communication systems. However, among the major concerns for adaptive antenna systems are the calibration process and the non-linearity effects of the RF-IF chains upon the performance of the beamforming network. This article investigates these issues based on experimental results produced with the adaptive antenna testbed that was developed under the RACE TSUNAMI project. Results highlight the sensitivity of the system on both the linearisation and the calibration processes employed.