A method for resolving the phase difference ambiguity in interferometric monopulse angle of arrival estimation

Abstract

This paper presents a method to eliminate the phase difference ambiguity in angle of arrival (AOA) estimation using the radio-frequency-based interferometric monopulse technique. In order to uniquely determine the AOA, we utilize four directivities which are formed by using selected elements with the same weight function as the AOA estimation. We investigate the AOA estimation accuracy for the direction of the incoming wave from a high elevation angle and in multi-path propagation environments using a three-dimensional fading emulator. The results show that the proposed method is valid for complex propagation environments.