Phase Recovery in Sensor Networks Based on Incoherent Repeater Elements

A coherent sensor network without hardware link between the network nodes can be set up based on a single MIMO-radar and several incoherent repeater elements spatially distributed. The repeater sends back the radar signal on the same way it was impinging onto the repeater. All repeater elements have an integrated double-sideband modulator, which allows to separate the signals of different repeater elements at the radar. For angle estimation, the phases of the signals of the repeater elements are crucial, but due to an unknown initial phase of the modulation signal, they cannot be determined directly. Thus, a reconstruction of the modulation phase is necessary for network-based coherent angle estimation. In this paper, a concept for phase reconstruction in such type of networks is proposed, exploiting both sidebands of the modulated signal of the repeater elements.