AoAsensorer

AoAsensorer is a sensor system designed to determine the angle of arrival (AoA) of electromagnetic signals to locate sources or orient devices in space. It typically comprises a planar or conformal antenna array paired with a digital signal processor that runs AoA estimation algorithms. By measuring phase and/or time differences across array elements, the AoA sensor infers the direction from which signals originate.

Basic operation: Calibrate to mitigate mutual coupling; gather multi-element samples; apply algorithms such as MUSIC, ESPRIT, or high-resolution methods, or fast search methods for real-time use. The angular resolution depends on aperture size, wavelength, and array geometry. Some designs support joint estimation of AoA with polarization or polarization-diversity sensors; fusion with inertial or radio map data improves robustness.

Applications: location and tracking in cellular networks (5G/6G), indoor positioning, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) and autonomous navigation, drone and robotics, radar sensing, and spectrum monitoring.

Variants and platforms: fixed-base installations, mobile or handheld units, and compact mmWave modules; can operate as standalone sensor or part of a larger localization system; often combined with time-difference of arrival (TDoA) to improve accuracy.

Limitations and challenges: multipath, non-line-of-sight, calibration drift, hardware complexity and cost; privacy considerations.