A 3d Detect-Array For Low-Complexity W-Band Beam Sensing And Direction-Of-Arrival Estimation

This paper presents a proof-of-concept system for lowcomplexity mmWave beam sensing at Wband that can be used for RF direction ofarrival (DoA) estimation. Instead of relying on complicated RSSI or phase detecting receivers, the system exploits 3D geometric structures with single diode power detector arrays (detectarrays) to estimate a mmWave beam's DoA. Such low complexity detectors can be highly advantageous for mobile units in enterprise IoT settings, where mmWave access points are already deployed for highdatarate communication. The latter can cooperatively provide signal bursts to achieve location awareness for drones or robots in GPSdenied indoor environments, without the need for highly complex receivers with downconverter chains. The technique could be beneficial in establishing positioning reference points or assisting inertial measurement units (IMUs) to reset their accumulative error.