The accuracy of a low-power approach for jammer angle-of-arrival estimation

Approaches to the geolocation of radio emitters typically involves the down-conversion, digitisation and subsequent signal processing of signals impinging on an antenna array. For geolocation using angle-of-arrival (AoA), a variety of different super-resolution algorithms have been proposed. Although these vary in performance and assumptions, they often present a significant computational burden, requiring the determination of covariance matrices, subsequent eigen-decomposition and analysis. This has a significant impact on ultimate power consumption. In this paper we consider the AoA accuracy of an approach using a low-power array based on steerable sum/difference beam-forming. We evaluate its use and accuracy in an application for the identification of Global Positioning System (GPS) jammers in vehicles. It is shown that this relatively simple approach performs well when the signal to noise ratio is sufficiently high.