Arrival angle estimation system, communication device, and communication system

1. An arrival angle estimation system comprising a transmitting device and a receiving device, the arrival angle estimation system estimating an arrival angle at which frames transmitted by radio from the transmitting device arrive at the receiving device, wherein:

the transmitting device includes two first directional antennas being arranged so that corresponding directivities are tilted at ±θ degrees with respect to a front portion of the transmitting device, the transmitting device being configured to:

select alternating ones of the first directional antennas to transmit a corresponding one of the frames to the receiving device;

modify a portion of the corresponding frame in response to the selection, the modified portion identifying the selected first directional antenna; and

transmit the corresponding frame from the first selected directional antenna to the receiving device; and

the receiving device includes a second directional antenna having directivity toward a front portion of the receiving device, the receiving device being configured to:

receive the corresponding frame from the transmitting device at a corresponding signal strength;

identify the selected first directional antenna of the transmitting device, based on the modified portion of the corresponding frame;

obtain (i) signal strength data for the first directional antennas and (ii) information identifying a correlation between differences in signal strength and arrival angles, the signal strength data comprising values of signal strength of previous transmissions received from at least one of the selected first directional antenna or the unselected first directional antenna;

compute, based on the corresponding signal strength and the obtained signal strength data, a difference between a first mean signal strength of transmissions received from the selected first directional antenna and a second mean signal strength of transmissions received from the unselected first directional antenna; and

estimate the arrival angle based on at least the computed difference and the obtained correlation information.

2. The arrival angle estimation system of claim 1 , wherein:

the transmitting device transmits frames to the receiving device by alternately switching the first directional antennas while varying arrival angles between the transmitting device and the receiving device;

the receiving device measures received signal strengths of the frames received from the respective first directional antennas to obtain differences in received signal strength between the first directional antennas; and

the receiving device determines the correlation between the differences and the arrival angles and stores the correlation information in advance.

3. The arrival angle estimation system of claim 1 , wherein:

by assuming that the transmitting device transmits frames from the first directional antennas at a common transmission power, and that a propagation loss between the first directional antennas and the second directional antenna is the same, a difference in gain between the transmitting directional antennas is regarded as the difference in the mean signal strengths.

4. The arrival angle estimation system of claim 2 , wherein:

the transmitting device transfers the frames while alternately switching the first directional antennas used for transmission at a fixed cycle, and the receiving device measures signal strengths of the transferred data frames.

5. The arrival angle estimation system of claim 4 , wherein:

if there is no transmit data to be transferred in an upper layer, the transmitting device generates and transmits frames whose data size is 0.

6. The arrival angle estimation system of claim 1 , wherein:

the correlation information identifies (i) a plurality of differences in mean signal strength of the selected and unselected first directional antennas and (ii) arrival angles associated with corresponding ones of the differences;

the receiving device is further configured to:

identify a difference in mean signal strength within the correlation information that matches the computed difference; and

establish the estimated arrival angle as the arrival angle within the correlation information that corresponds to the identified difference.

7. The arrival angle estimation system of claim 1 , wherein:

the corresponding frame comprises a Subtype field, the Subtype field being associated with defined values and undefined values;

the transmitting device is further configured to:

assign the information identifying the selected first directional antenna to one of the undefined values; and

modify the Subtype field of the corresponding frame to include the assigned undefined value.