System and method for estimating the angle of arrival using antenna arrays

An apparatus for receiving radio frequency (RF) signals, comprising:

• an antenna array comprising a plurality of antennas, individual antennas positioned a distance from neighboring antennas;
• a computing device processor;
• and
• a memory device including instructions that, when executed by the computing device processor, enables the apparatus to:
• detect a client device;
• obtain a response to a control message from the client device within a time interval;
• establish a communication session between the computing device processor and the client device;
• obtain an antenna configuration file, the antenna configuration file operable to control a selection of at least one antenna of the plurality of antennas;
• activate a first subset of antennas of the plurality of antennas based on the antenna configuration file;
• obtain a first RF signal by the first subset of antennas;
• analyze the first RF signal to generate a first channel state information dataset, a first timestamp, and a first signal strength;
• activate a second subset of antennas of the plurality of antennas based on the antenna configuration file, wherein activating the second subset of antennas deactivates the first subset of antennas;
• obtain a second RF signal by the second subset of antennas;
• analyze the second RF signal to generate a second channel state information dataset, a second timestamp, and a second signal strength;
• determine a time difference between the first timestamp and the second timestamp is within a period of time;
• determine a signal strength difference between the first signal strength and the second signal strength is within a signal strength range;
• combine the first channel state information dataset and the second channel state information dataset to create a combined channel state information dataset;
• and
• determine an angle of arrival of the first RF signal and the second RF signal based on the combined channel state information dataset.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing system, causes the computing system to:

• detect a client device;
• obtain a response to a control message from the client device within a time interval;
• establish a communication session between a network anchor device and the client device;
• obtain an antenna configuration file, the antenna configuration file operable to control a selection of at least one antenna of a plurality of antennas, individual antennas positioned at a known distance from neighboring antennas;
• activate a first subset of antennas of the plurality of antennas based on the antenna configuration file;
• obtain a first radio frequency (RF) signal by the first subset of antennas;
• analyze the first RF signal to generate a first channel state information dataset, a first timestamp, and a first signal strength;
• activate a second subset of antennas of the plurality of antennas based on the antenna configuration file, wherein activating the second subset of antennas deactivates the first subset of antennas;
• obtain a second RF signal by the second subset of antennas;
• analyze the second RF signal to generate a second channel state information dataset, a second timestamp, and a second signal strength;
• determine a time difference between the first timestamp and the second timestamp is within a period of time;
• determine a signal strength difference between the first signal strength and the second signal strength is within a signal strength range;
• combine the first channel state information dataset and the second channel state information dataset to create a combined channel state information dataset;
• and
• determine an angle of arrival of the first RF signal and the second RF signal based on the combined channel state information dataset.