Angle of Arrival Estimation Using IEEE 802.15.4 TSCH Protocol

Wireless localization and sensing functions play a crucial role in facilitating collaboration and interaction between people and machines in Industry 5.0. Driven by the Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) paradigm, we modify the Time Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH) protocol to support Angle of Arrival (AoA) estimation, enabling joint localization and communication functionalities. The TSCH timeslot is extended allowing the AoA to be estimated with each received packet. In order to improve the accuracy of the AoA estimates and enable estimation even at high Carrier Frequency Offset (CFO), we propose a two-stage CFO calibration method. The operation of the proposed solution is validated in an indoor scenario utilizing low-cost off-the-shelf components. By utilizing 16 successive AoA estimates with a Round Robin antenna switching pattern, the standard deviation and the mean absolute error are on average below 1.7 degrees.