Robust antenna array calibration and accurate angle estimation based on least trimmed squares

Abstract

A robust antenna array calibration and single target angle estimation algorithm is proposed. The proposed algorithm is based on the least trimmed squares algorithm and operates in two steps. First, the conventional least squares algorithm is used to estimate the intermediate phases (or angle) and the residual values at each element are calculated. In the second step, it excludes large residual elements and uses only the smallest of them, which prevents large errors during the angle estimation. The least trimmed-based phase difference approximation algorithm is simple to implement and is a practical way of mitigating errors at the antenna elements that are due to hardware and imperfect calibration. The results demonstrate that our proposed algorithm is robust and outperforms other algorithms in three scenarios. © 2013, Institut Mines-Télécom and Springer-Verlag France.