Antenna array including virtual antenna elements

An antenna system for receiving a signal comprising:

• an antenna array including M physical antenna elements, wherein the M physical antenna elements are spatially arranged to receive one of a corresponding M replicas of the signal so as to be capable of generating M replicas of the received signal;
• and
• an array processing module including M signal processing chains, wherein each of the M signal processing chains is coupled to one of the M physical antenna elements;
• wherein the array processing module is configured to generate N signal response values for the antenna array as a function of the M replicas of the received signal;
• wherein the N signal response values include at least one virtual antenna response value, wherein N is greater than M.

A receiver system for receiving a signal comprising:

• an antenna array including M physical antenna elements for receiving M replicas of the signal, each of the M replicas being received by a corresponding one of the M physical antenna elements;
• means for determining a response of each of the M physical antenna elements to the signal;
• and
• means for generating, as a function of the responses of the M physical antenna elements to the signal, N responses to the signal, respectively associated with N spatial locations along the antenna array, wherein at least one of the N spatial locations is not coincident with a location of any of the M physical antenna elements.