Angle-of-arrival estimation: Beamformer-based smart antennas

In this paper, we addressed the issue of estimating the angle-of-arrival using the beamformer-based smart antennas. In general wireless communication system, it was apparent that even for one source there are many possible propagation paths and angles of arrival. If several transmitters are operating simultaneously, each source potentially creates many multipath components at the receiver. Therefore, it is important for a received array to be able to estimate the angles of arrival in order to decipher which emitters are present and what are their possible angular locations. This information can be used to eliminate or combine signals for greater fidelity, suppress interferers, or both. Simulation results support these analyses.