Patent ID: 7277469

Claim:
A method of estimating a channel and a direction of arrival (θ) of a signal received by an array of antennae after being propagated along at least one path, comprising, for each path: a first step of estimating for each antenna (l) in the array of antennae a total phase difference (ξ l ) from a signal (x l ) received by each antenna (l); a second step of estimating the angle of arrival (θ) of the signal, as well as a phase rotation (ν) undergone by the signal along the at least one path, using each of the antennae total phase differences determined in the first step; a third step of estimating an attenuation (α) undergone by the signal along the at least one path from estimated values ({circumflex over (ν)},{circumflex over (θ)}) of the phase rotation (ν) and the angle of arrival (θ); and a fourth step of forming a beam using said array pointed in a direction based upon said angle of arrival, wherein the first step comprises, for each signal received (x l ), minimizing a distance between a plurality of values of the received signal (x l ) taken at a plurality of times (t) and values of a pilot signal (b) taken at said plurality of times (t).