Optimal virtual array length under position imperfections

This article contains a study of how spatial errors and receiver imperfections affect the angle of arrival estimation accuracy for virtual antenna arrays. A virtual antenna array consists of one receiver element whose location is tracked as the element is moved and in this work, linear arrays are studied. If the location of the receiver is tracked using an inertial measurement unit, an interesting trade-off emerges. The array should extend as far as possible but since the position estimates from the unaided inertial measurement unit become increasingly uncertain over time, the angle of arrival estimation will deteriorate. Several algorithms are available for estimating the angle of arrival in such a scenario but the one used for evaluation here is a sparse enforcing least squares method.