An Introduction to Direction‐of‐Arrival Estimation Techniques

This chapter introduces the fundamentals of direction‐of‐arrival (DOA) techniques for localization systems. The main goal is the introduction of DOA methods via antenna arrays. In order to better introduce the principles of DOA, the chapter briefly introduces antenna systems and antenna arrays for the reader to learn important parameters of an antenna and antenna arrays and the notion of beamforming (BF). It introduces different measures for comparing DOA estimation methods and examples of DOA estimation techniques, and discusses their pros and cons. Moreover, a new DOA estimation method that improves the performance and complexity for implementation on software‐defined radios is introduced. Finally, the chapter discuss a DOA estimation method that is suitable for periodic sense transmissions in localization techniques such as wireless local positioning systems (WLPSs). WLPS consists of two types of nodes: a multiantenna radio called dynamic base station (DBS), and a single‐antenna radio called transceiver (TRX). The localization process starts at the DBS.