Estimation of DoA based on large-scale virtual array data

Abstract

In this paper a new method has been introduced to obtain directional information on the propagation paths from wide-band channel measurement data, in particular with respect to future measurements in the mm-wave band. The method is based on large-scale virtual array analysis of the spatially sampled channel. Corresponding data can e.g. be obtained by measurements with an omnidirectional antenna, which is continuously moved during the measurement. The large-scale estimation approach has been compared with a well-known method, the smooth MUSIC algorithm. The proposed method yields quite stable DoA estimations on a large scale, whereas the small-scale-based MUSIC algorithm shows a high variance because of fading effects. However, the method proposed needs to be further evaluated in order to improve the accuracy of DoAs and to assess the dependence of the results on the input parameters.