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The angle of arrival (AoA) of a signal is the direction from which the signal (e.g. radio, optical or acoustic) is received. [1]
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(January 2021) |
The angle of arrival (AoA) of a signal is the direction from which the signal (e.g. radio, optical or acoustic) is received. [1]
Measurement of AoA can be done by determining the direction of propagation of a radio-frequency wave incident on an antenna array or determined from maximum signal strength during antenna rotation.
The AoA can be calculated by measuring the time difference of arrival (TDOA) between individual elements of the array.
Generally this TDOA measurement is made by measuring the difference in received phase at each element in the antenna array. This can be thought of as beamforming in reverse. In beamforming, the signal from each element is weighed to "steer" the gain of the antenna array. In AoA, the delay of arrival at each element is measured directly and converted to an AoA measurement.
Consider, for example, a two element array spaced apart by one-half the wavelength of an incoming RF wave. If a wave is incident upon the array at boresight, it will arrive at each antenna simultaneously. This will yield 0° phase-difference measured between the two antenna elements, equivalent to a 0° AoA. If a wave is incident upon the array at broadside, then a 180° phase difference will be measured between the elements, corresponding to a 90° AoA.
In single antenna case, data-driven techniques [2] are powerful tools to estimate AoA, capitalizing on the inherent imperfections of the antenna.
In optics, AoA can be calculated using interferometry.
An application of AoA is in the geolocation of cell phones. The aim is either for the cell system to report the location of a cell phone placing an emergency call or to provide a service to tell the user of the cell phone where they are. Multiple receivers on a base station would calculate the AoA of the cell phone's signal, and this information would be combined to determine the phone's location.
AoA is generally used to discover the location of pirate radio stations or of any military radio transmitter.
In submarine acoustics, AoA is used to localize objects with active or passive ranging.
Limitations on the accuracy of estimation of angle of arrival signals in digital antenna arrays are associated with jitter ADC and DAC. [3]
In electronics and telecommunications, jitter is the deviation from true periodicity of a presumably periodic signal, often in relation to a reference clock signal. In clock recovery applications it is called timing jitter. Jitter is a significant, and usually undesired, factor in the design of almost all communications links.
In radio engineering, an antenna or aerial is an electronic device that converts an alternating electric current into radio waves (transmitting), or radio waves into an electric current (receiving). It is the interface between radio waves propagating through space and electric currents moving in metal conductors, used with a transmitter or receiver. In transmission, a radio transmitter supplies an electric current to the antenna's terminals, and the antenna radiates the energy from the current as electromagnetic waves. In reception, an antenna intercepts some of the power of a radio wave in order to produce an electric current at its terminals, that is applied to a receiver to be amplified. Antennas are essential components of all radio equipment.
A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna which radiates or receives greater radio wave power in specific directions. Directional antennas can radiate radio waves in beams, when greater concentration of radiation in a certain direction is desired, or in receiving antennas receive radio waves from one specific direction only. This can increase the power transmitted to receivers in that direction, or reduce interference from unwanted sources. This contrasts with omnidirectional antennas such as dipole antennas which radiate radio waves over a wide angle, or receive from a wide angle.
Direction finding (DF), or radio direction finding (RDF), is the use of radio waves to determine the direction to a radio source. The source may be a cooperating radio transmitter or may be an inadvertant source, a naturally-occurring radio source, or an illicit or enemy system. Radio direction finding differs from radar in that only the direction is determined by any one receiver; a radar system usually also gives a distance to the object of interest, as well as direction. By triangulation, the location of a radio source can be determined by measuring its direction from two or more locations. Radio direction finding is used in radio navigation for ships and aircraft, to locate emergency transmitters for search and rescue, for tracking wildlife, and to locate illegal or interfering transmitters. During the Second World War, radio direction finding was used by both sides to locate and direct aircraft, surface ships, and submarines.
A sensor array is a group of sensors, usually deployed in a certain geometry pattern, used for collecting and processing electromagnetic or acoustic signals. The advantage of using a sensor array over using a single sensor lies in the fact that an array adds new dimensions to the observation, helping to estimate more parameters and improve the estimation performance. For example an array of radio antenna elements used for beamforming can increase antenna gain in the direction of the signal while decreasing the gain in other directions, i.e., increasing signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) by amplifying the signal coherently. Another example of sensor array application is to estimate the direction of arrival of impinging electromagnetic waves. The related processing method is called array signal processing. A third examples includes chemical sensor arrays, which utilize multiple chemical sensors for fingerprint detection in complex mixtures or sensing environments. Application examples of array signal processing include radar/sonar, wireless communications, seismology, machine condition monitoring, astronomical observations fault diagnosis, etc.
Beamforming or spatial filtering is a signal processing technique used in sensor arrays for directional signal transmission or reception. This is achieved by combining elements in an antenna array in such a way that signals at particular angles experience constructive interference while others experience destructive interference. Beamforming can be used at both the transmitting and receiving ends in order to achieve spatial selectivity. The improvement compared with omnidirectional reception/transmission is known as the directivity of the array.
In signal processing, direction of arrival (DOA) denotes the direction from which usually a propagating wave arrives at a point, where usually a set of sensors are located. These set of sensors forms what is called a sensor array. Often there is the associated technique of beamforming which is estimating the signal from a given direction. Various engineering problems addressed in the associated literature are:
Smart antennas are antenna arrays with smart signal processing algorithms used to identify spatial signal signatures such as the direction of arrival (DOA) of the signal, and use them to calculate beamforming vectors which are used to track and locate the antenna beam on the mobile/target. Smart antennas should not be confused with reconfigurable antennas, which have similar capabilities but are single element antennas and not antenna arrays.
Radiolocation, also known as radiolocating or radiopositioning, is the process of finding the location of something through the use of radio waves. It generally refers to passive, particularly radar—as well as detecting buried cables, water mains, and other public utilities. It is similar to radionavigation in which one actively seeks its own position; both are types of radiodetermination. Radiolocation is also used in real-time locating systems (RTLS) for tracking valuable assets.
Beamforming or spatial filtering is a signal processing technique used in sensor arrays for directional signal transmission or reception. This is achieved by combining elements in an antenna array in such a way that signals at particular angles experience constructive interference while others experience destructive interference. Beamforming can be used at both the transmitting and receiving ends in order to achieve spatial selectivity. The improvement compared with omnidirectional reception/transmission is known as the directivity of the array.
Acoustic location is a method of determining the position of an object or sound source by using sound waves. Location can take place in gases, liquids, and in solids.
Time of arrival is the absolute time instant when a radio signal emanating from a transmitter reaches a remote receiver. The time span elapsed since the time of transmission is the time of flight . Time difference of arrival (TDOA) is the difference between TOAs.
Wi-Fi positioning system is a geolocation system that uses the characteristics of nearby Wi‑Fi access points to discover where a device is located.
WSDMA is a high bandwidth channel access method, developed for multi-transceiver systems such as active array antennas. WSDMA is a beamforming technique suitable for overlay on the latest air-interface protocols including WCDMA and OFDM. WSDMA enabled systems can determine the angle of arrival (AoA) of received signals to spatially divide a cell sector into many sub-sectors. This spatial awareness provides information necessary to maximise Carrier to Noise+Interference Ratio (CNIR) link budget, through a range of digital processing routines. WSDMA facilitates a flexible approach to how uplink and downlink beamforming is performed and is capable of spatial filtering known interference generating locations.
Satellite geolocation is the process of locating the origin of a signal appearing on a satellite communication channel. Typically, this process is used to mitigate interference on communication satellites. Usually, these interference signals are caused by human error or equipment failure, but can also be caused by deliberate jamming. Identifying the geographical location of an interfering signal informs the mitigation activity.
An antenna array is a set of multiple connected antennas which work together as a single antenna, to transmit or receive radio waves. The individual antennas are usually connected to a single receiver or transmitter by feedlines that feed the power to the elements in a specific phase relationship. The radio waves radiated by each individual antenna combine and superpose, adding together to enhance the power radiated in desired directions, and cancelling to reduce the power radiated in other directions. Similarly, when used for receiving, the separate radio frequency currents from the individual antennas combine in the receiver with the correct phase relationship to enhance signals received from the desired directions and cancel signals from undesired directions. More sophisticated array antennas may have multiple transmitter or receiver modules, each connected to a separate antenna element or group of elements.
The first smart antennas were developed for military communications and intelligence gathering. The growth of cellular telephone in the 1980s attracted interest in commercial applications. The upgrade to digital radio technology in the mobile phone, indoor wireless network, and satellite broadcasting industries created new opportunities for smart antennas in the 1990s, culminating in the development of the MIMO technology used in 4G wireless networks.
Channel sounding is a technique that evaluates a radio environment for wireless communication, especially MIMO systems. Because of the effect of terrain and obstacles, wireless signals propagate in multiple paths. To minimize or use the multipath effect, engineers use channel sounding to process the multidimensional spatial–temporal signal and estimate channel characteristics. This helps simulate and design wireless systems.
A reflectarray antenna consists of an array of unit cells, illuminated by a feeding antenna. The feeding antenna is usually a horn. The unit cells are usually backed by a ground plane, and the incident wave reflects off them towards the direction of the beam, but each cell adds a different phase delay to the reflected signal. A phase distribution of concentric rings is applied to focus the wavefronts from the feeding antenna into a plane wave . A progressive phase shift can be applied to the unit cells to steer the beam direction. It is common to offset the feeding antenna to prevent blockage of the beam. In this case, the phase distribution on the reflectarray surface needs to be altered. A reflectarray focuses a beam in a similar way to a parabolic reflector (dish), but with a much thinner form factor.
Digital antenna array(DAA) is a smart antenna with multi channels digital beamforming, usually by using fast Fourier transform (FFT). The development and practical realization of digital antenna arrays theory started in 1962 under the guidance of Vladimir Varyukhin (USSR).