Angle-of-Arrival Estimation of Multipath Signals in A Passive Coherent Location System Using OFDM-Based Illuminators

• Published in: Wireless personal communications Vol. 77; no. 2; pp. 889 - 906
• Main Authors: Hua, Meng-Chang, Liu, Hsin-Chin, Hsu, Cheng-Han
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.07.2014; Springer
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Arrays; Broadcasting. Videocommunications. Audiovisual; Coding, codes; Coherence; Communications Engineering; Computer Communication Networks; Engineering; Equipments and installations; Error detection; Exact sciences and technology; Illuminators; Information, signal and communications theory; Networks; Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing; Personal communication; Position (location); Radiocommunications; Signal and communications theory; Signal,Image and Speech Processing; Simulation; Telecommunications; Telecommunications and information theory; Triangles; DVB-T; Angle-of-arrival estimation; OFDM; Overloaded array; Passive coherent location system; Interference; Frequency division multiple access; Multipath propagation; Context aware; Passive system; Overload; Television; Arrival angle; Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing; Localization; Target detection; Signal detection
• ISSN: 0929-6212; 1572-834X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11277-013-1542-9

Terrestrial multipath interference is inevitably problematic in passive coherent location (PCL) systems because it can overwhelm target signals and cause detection errors. However, angle-of-arrival (AOA) information about multipath signals can be used to reduce detection errors in PCL systems. This work proposes a new method of identifying AOA multipath components for PCL systems with OFDM-based illuminators. Use of a 3-element array deployed as an equilateral triangle enables accurate estimation of AOA information for multipath signals. Notably, the number of AOA estimations can far exceed the number of array elements. Simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method.