Non-coherent DOA estimation based on a dual-array structure without reference signals

The problem of direction of arrival (DOA) estimation with magnitude only measurements, i.e. non-coherent DOA estimation, is considered in this paper. Although it can be solved by sparse phase retrieval algorithms, known reference signals are needed to deal with the inherent ambiguity issue of this approach. In this work, to avoid the use of reference signals, which is not convenient in practice, an effective array structure based on two uniform linear arrays is proposed for non-coherent DOA estimation. A new ambiguity called spatial order ambiguity is also discussed for the first time. Simulation results are provided to show its effectiveness.