Amplitude Only Direction of Arrival Estimation

In this manuscript, we present a novel hardware concept for the estimation of the direction of arrival of electro-magnetic signals. An arrangement of two patch antenna arrays, tilted with respect to each other, is used to create a monotonic relationship between the DoA and the received power difference between both arrays. The proof of concept is performed using numerical simulations, and we demonstrate that by maintaining the same boresight direction, but tilting the beam in relation to the propagation axis, DoA estimation through power difference can be achieved. The proposed technique aims to reduce the complexity of such estimation systems in the hardware, as well as in the digital signal processing domain, by removing the need for phase comparison.