Nested Linear Array DoA Estimation with Mixed One-bit Quantization

Direction of Arrival (DoA) estimation is a key technology in array signal processing. One-bit quantization is a popular method for reducing hardware costs in DoA estimation. However, one-bit quantization introduces significant quantization noise, which can greatly impact the accuracy of DoA estimation. Therefore, we propose a method for DoA estimation based on nested linear array (NLA) and mixed one-bit quantization. This method combines all one-bit quantization and full precision quantization, aiming to leverage the advantages of all one-bit quantization while preserving more signal information, thereby maintaining higher estimation accuracy. Additionally, by employing NLA, the system performance is enhanced and hardware costs are reduced, effectively overcoming the limitations of uniform linear array (ULA). We derived the principles of the covariance matrix for mixed one-bit quantization used in DoA estimation and the calculation method for its CRB. Simulation experiments demonstrate that compared to all one-bit quantization, this method significantly improves DoA estimation performance and achieves a lower Cramer-Rao Bound (CRB). The proposed method can achieve a good trade off between hardware costs and estimation accuracy.