Apparatus and method for estimating direction of radio frequency signal

An apparatus for estimating a direction of a RF signal, comprising:

• an antenna for receiving an RF signal;
• an electronic compass for, as a pointing direction of the antenna is varied, generating information about pointing directions and pointing angles corresponding to variations in the pointing direction of the antenna;
• a digital signal processing unit for receiving the RF signal from the antenna and calculating a RSSI value corresponding to the RF signal;
• a control unit for determining RSSI values at respective pointing angles of the antenna corresponding to the variations in the pointing direction of the antenna based on the RSSI value from the digital signal processing unit and information of the electronic compass, extracting a maximum RSSI value from the RSSI values at the respective pointing angles, and storing the maximum RSSI value and a pointing direction corresponding to the maximum RSSI value and
• a display unit for displaying the RSSI values at the respective pointing angles and a trajectory of the RSSI values at the respective pointing angles under control of the control unit.

A method of estimating a direction of a RF signal, comprising:

• determining, by a control unit, RSSI values at respective pointing angles of an antenna, based on a received signal of the antenna and information of an electronic compass related to a pointing direction and a pointing angle of the antenna;
• extracting, by the control unit, a maximum RSSI value from the RSSI values at the respective pointing angles, and storing the maximum RSSI value and a pointing direction corresponding to the maximum RSSI value;
• and
• displaying, by a display unit, the RSSI values at the respective pointing angles and a trajectory of the RSSI values at the respective pointing angles.