A new direction-of-arrival estimation method using automotive radar sensor arrays

Abstract

This article presents a new signal processing method of estimation of direction of arrival using the phase difference between sensors. The new method is essentially a narrow-band technique for automotive radar. A delay of the reception time is caused by the physical gap between sensors in the incident signals to the sensor arrays, and it results in a phase difference between input signals. The new method predicts the ideal phase value and the phase value of the input signal. The point that minimizes the phase error for every sensor is estimated as direction of arrival. The simulation result shows that the new method offers significantly improved estimation resolution and direction-of-arrival estimation compared to conventional methods.