Optimal Sensor Placement for 3-D Angle-of-Arrival Target Localization

This paper investigates optimal sensor placement strategies for angle-of-arrival (AOA) localization in three-dimensional space. We adopt the A-optimality criterion to determine optimal sensor placements under the Gaussian measurement noise. A comprehensive analysis of optimal sensor-target geometries is provided with no restriction on the number of AOA sensors, sensor-target range, and noise variances. A resistor network analogy is also presented to enable quick determination of optimal sensor-target geometries. The analytical results are verified by extensive simulation studies.