AoA Estimation of Spatially Correlated MIMO Transmitters in Wireless Passive Radar Applications

In this work we are concerned with the problem of estimating the AoA of MIMO transmitters when their antennas exhibit spatial correlation. The problem is of interest in passive RADAR applications where a receiver that is not part of the nominal communication link wants to estimate the AoA. We explore the conditions under which we we can calculate correctly the number of AoAs, allowing us correct application of the high resolution MUSIC algorithm. Our results in indicate that for spatially correlated channels we must know the degree of spatial correlation before we can calculate the AoAs.