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This article proposes a novel formula to design two-element arrays with antenna mode switch techniques for direction-of-arrival estimation. This formula can mathematically predict and physically explain how the back-lobe and element spacing of an antenna array influence the errors and failure rates of direction-of-arrival estimation. In addition, a practical antenna design for implementing the proposed antenna mode switch technique is also given. Practical implementation of the antenna design covers frequencies of 2,300 to 2,690 MHz, which is commonly used in modern wireless communication systems.

In this paper, the antenna mode switch technique is applied to Capon DOA(direction of arrival) estimation of signal sources. The Capon method is a well-known DOA estimation algorithm. However, it often needs a large antenna array to achieve good resolution so that the cost and computation efforts are increased. To achieve good resolution without increasing the number of array elements, our antenna mode switch technique is added to Capon DOA computation. The antenna mode switch technique is a special antenna pattern which reduces the interference from spatial region not being scanned. Such a special antenna pattern can be experimentally implemented. Numerical simulation results show that using our antenna mode switch in Capon DOA computation can significantly improve the resolution. It can be applied to small portable devices of modern wireless communication.