System and method for estimating the multi-path delays in a signal using a spatially blind antenna array
View Patent ↗A method is described that enables a system to estimate the individual times of arrival of multi-path signals components in a received signal while blind to the particular angular response characteristics of an antenna array. Additionally, a system is described that estimates the impulse response of the modulation channel. The impulse response is used to generate impulse response estimates for all multi-path signal components without reference to the actual angle of arrival of the signal. The impulse responses for the multi-path constituents are directly associated with the time delays on each path, providing delay estimates for each path.
1. In a method for estimating the multi-path delays in a signal received at an antenna array of k antenna elements, comprising estimating an impulse response at each k antenna, generating a space-time impulse response, forming a covariance matrix and resolving the covariance matrix with a known antenna array manifold, the improvement comprising the step of resolving the covariance matrix with a fictitious antenna array manifold.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the covariance matrix “C” is generated according to the following equation:
C=ΣII H .
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fictitious array manifold is used to form a space-time manifold and the space-time manifold operates to resolve the multi-path delays.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of resolving the covariance matrix C to determine multi-path delays uses the method of MUltiple SIgnal Classification (MUSIC) techniques.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of resolving the covariance matrix C to determine multi-path delays uses the Method of Alternating Projection (APM).
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the space-time impulse response “I” is formed by stacking individual impulse response estimates into a column vector.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fictitious manifold is the aggregate of all vectors:
a
=
[
a
1
a
2
⋮
a
m
]
,
where ak (k=1, 2, . . . m) range over the set of complex numbers, where m is the number of an antenna element in the array.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of resolving the covariance matrix C to determine multi-path delays uses Alternating Projection.