Angle of arrival estimation for cellular networks in multipath environments

Abstract

Estimation of a mobile user’s location within the wireless network has become a significant area of research within the last 10 years. Parallel to the increasing popularity of mobile phones, numerous location estimation techniques have been developed. These techniques aim to provide accurate position of mobile users and to open the way for the efficient usage of cellular services that can be provided with the help of location estimation. Performance of location estimation schemes depends on the characteristics of the wireless channel. When the channel induces multipath effects, scattering objects can lead to errors in the estimated angle of arrival (AOA) of the mobile station. This thesis studies the performance of different AOA estimation algorithms in the multipath propagation environment where uniform linear arrays (ULAs) are considered at the base stations. A nonisotropic scattering model is used and performances of different algorithms are analyzed with the results of several simulations.