Antenna Element Pattern Estimation based on Array Beam Pattern

As millimeter-wave (mmWave) communication based on massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) system has promised as a new technology, beamforming techniques are studied actively to overcome high path-loss. Since antenna element patterns and beam patterns are distorted because of mutual coupling between antennas, it is important to consider practical antenna element radiation pattern when beamforming are studied and used to reflect practical environment. By knowing practical antenna element patterns, mutual coupling problems can be solved and beamforming techniques can be studied more flexibly considering practical environments. It is, however, very difficult to measure antenna element patterns because of small peak gain compared to beam gain. Therefore, we propose an antenna element pattern estimation algorithm based on array beam pattern which can be measured relatively easily.