Joint Estimation of the Number of Antennas and AoA of a Wireless Communication Transmitter

Abstract

Estimating various parameters of a wirelessly transmitted information-bearing signal, besides the information itself, is essential for a number of applications (e.g. military finger-printing, localization, radio-astronomy, etc.). In this paper we are interested in learning the number of antennas from which a wireless signal originates, and in addition its angle-of-arrival (AoA). Recent results from random matrix theory (RMT) allowed the development of highly efficient methods for detecting the number of antennas or the number of AoAs. In this paper we present an algorithm that applies RMT in two steps so that the receiver can detect simultaneously the number of antennas and the number of AoAs when a transmitter (Tx) with multiple antennas is present in an environment with several scatterers. Our simulations reveal an algorithm with very low estimation errors for a randomized placement of scatterers. © 2022 IEEE.