Joint DOA Estimation and Phase Calibration of Linear Equispaced (LES) Arrays

The important problem of self-calibration of phased arrays for unknown phase errors in conjunction with their use in high-resolution direction of arrival (DOA) estimation is addressed. We consider the canonical (and widely used) linear equispaced (LES) array with a constant but unknown phase response and develop an algorithm that does not require any a priori knowledge of the direction of arrival of a signal. Analytical results are presented regarding estimator performance that are verified by a representative body of simulations. In addition, estimator performance is compared with a constrained Cramér-Rao lower bound (CRLB).