Frequency-Diverse Computational Direction of Arrival Estimation Technique

Area of Science:

• Electrical Engineering
• Signal Processing
• Wireless Communications

Background:

• Millimeter-wave (mmW) frequencies are crucial for 5G, necessitating efficient channel sounding techniques.
• Accurate direction of arrival (DoA) estimation is vital for beamforming and spatial multiplexing in 5G systems.
• Traditional DoA methods often require complex antenna arrays, increasing hardware cost and complexity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a simplified DoA estimation technique for mmW 5G channel sounding.
• To leverage frequency diversity to reduce hardware requirements for DoA estimation.
• To achieve high-fidelity and multi-source DoA detection with a single antenna.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing frequency-diversity to create spatially incoherent radiation masks.
• Encoding incident plane-wave signals using a single antenna and frequency sweeps.
• Applying Fourier transform to retrieved plane-wave projection patterns for spatial information retrieval.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated high-fidelity DoA estimations using a simple Fourier transform.
• Achieved DoA estimation through a single frequency sweep, compressing signals into one channel.
• Confirmed the capability of simultaneous multi-source DoA detection with diffraction-limited resolution.

Conclusions:

• The proposed frequency-diverse technique significantly simplifies mmW 5G channel sounding hardware by enabling single-antenna DoA estimation.
• This method offers a cost-effective and efficient solution for accurate DoA determination in 5G systems.
• The technique provides a robust approach for identifying multiple signal sources simultaneously.