Indirect method for direction of arrival estimation of bandlimited communication signal based on compressed sensing

We propose a new indirect method for direction of arrival estimation of a bandlimited communication signal based on compressed sensing. The analyzed signal in our system is sparse in the frequency domain. Also, the exact carrier frequency of the communication signal is unknown but the frequency range where it belongs is known and assumed to be narrowband compared to the carrier frequency. The signal is converted to baseband using the center frequency of the observed frequency range and then sampled using random sampling in time and circularly from different antennas. The samples are compensated according to an assumed direction of arrival and then reconstructed using reconstruction algorithms from compressed sensing framework. Based on the concentration of the signal energy in the frequency domain a decision on the correctness of the assumed direction is made. A grid of assumed directions of arrival over the entire direction of arrival space is applied in order to find the best candidate. Simulations are carried out to evaluate the performance of the method.