Ultra-Wideband Angle of Arrival Estimation Based on Angle-Dependent Antenna Transfer Function.

Area of Science:

• Electrical Engineering
• Signal Processing
• Radio Frequency Engineering

Background:

• Ultra-wideband (UWB) radio signals offer high data rates, fading resilience, and temporal resolution, making them suitable for communication, localization, and radar.
• Existing angle of arrival (AoA) estimation methods often require multiple antennas or relative motion, increasing hardware complexity and cost.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel, cost-effective method for estimating the angle of arrival (AoA) of UWB signals.
• To augment existing time-of-flight based localization and radar systems without additional hardware.
• To demonstrate the feasibility of AoA estimation using only the angle-dependent impulse response of UWB antennas.

Main Methods:

• The proposed method leverages the angle-dependent impulse response function of UWB antennas.
• It does not necessitate multiple transmitter or receiver antennas.
• The technique avoids the need for relative motion between the transmitter and receiver.

Main Results:

• The method was evaluated on publicly available datasets.
• It was successfully applied to a robot self-localization problem, using AoA estimates alone.
• Combining AoA estimates with time-of-flight measurements was shown to be effective.

Conclusions:

• The developed AoA estimation method is promising for UWB systems.
• It offers a potential pathway to electronically and mechanically simpler AoA estimation technology.
• While current multi-antenna techniques offer higher accuracy, this method presents a viable alternative for specific applications.