Radio frequency UAV attitude estimation using direction of arrival and polarization

This paper proposes a new algorithm for estimating the relative attitude between two unmanned aerial vehicles based on multiple-input multiple-output radio frequency transmissions between the two aircraft. The method is able to estimate all three Euler angles required to describe the relative attitude, in contrast to prior methods that place severe limits on what can be estimated. Initial simulations based on the algorithm reveal that the estimation errors are relatively small even for moderate signal-to-noise ratios.