Phase Reversal Weighting Angle Estimation with a Reduced Number of Elements in a Rician Channel

This paper presents a phase reversal weighting (PRW) method that provides a compact interferometric angle of arrival (AOA) estimation antenna arranged in a circular array with a reduced number of elements. The goal of this study is to achieve precise bearing detection in an indoor Rician fading channel using the PRW method in conjunction with the mean IQ-value (MIQ) method that extracts angle information in random multipath scattered fields. Monte-Carlo simulation-based analytical results show that by using the PRW method in conjunction with the MIQ method, the AOA antenna with a half of the number of elements, compared with our previously studied counterparts, provides an estimated angle error of less than 7°, even in the case of a severe Rician fading channel with an extremely small line-of-sight (LOS) stationary component where the rice factor or K-factor is −10dB.