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Main Authors: Golipoor, Sahar, Ghazalian, Reza, Mesquita, Ines Lobato, Sigg, Stephan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.16303
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author Golipoor, Sahar
Ghazalian, Reza
Mesquita, Ines Lobato
Sigg, Stephan
author_facet Golipoor, Sahar
Ghazalian, Reza
Mesquita, Ines Lobato
Sigg, Stephan
contents We investigate hand gesture recognition by leveraging passive reflective tags worn on the body. Considering a large set of gestures, distinct patterns are difficult to be captured by learning algorithms using backscattered received signal strength (RSS) and phase signals. This is because these features often exhibit similarities across signals from different gestures. To address this limitation, we explore the estimation of Angle of Arrival (AoA) as a distinguishing feature, since AoA characteristically varies during body motion. To ensure reliable estimation in our system, which employs Smart Antenna Switching (SAS), we first validate AoA estimation using the Multiple SIgnal Classification (MUSIC) algorithm while the tags are fixed at specific angles. Building on this, we propose an AoA tracking method based on Kalman smoothing. Our analysis demonstrates that, while RSS and phase alone are insufficient for distinguishing certain gesture data, AoA tracking can effectively differentiate them. To evaluate the effectiveness of AoA tracking, we implement gesture recognition system benchmarks and show that incorporating AoA features significantly boosts their performance. Improvements of up to 15% confirm the value of AoA-based enhancement.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_16303
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Angle of Arrival Estimation for Gesture Recognition from reflective body-worn tags
Golipoor, Sahar
Ghazalian, Reza
Mesquita, Ines Lobato
Sigg, Stephan
Signal Processing
We investigate hand gesture recognition by leveraging passive reflective tags worn on the body. Considering a large set of gestures, distinct patterns are difficult to be captured by learning algorithms using backscattered received signal strength (RSS) and phase signals. This is because these features often exhibit similarities across signals from different gestures. To address this limitation, we explore the estimation of Angle of Arrival (AoA) as a distinguishing feature, since AoA characteristically varies during body motion. To ensure reliable estimation in our system, which employs Smart Antenna Switching (SAS), we first validate AoA estimation using the Multiple SIgnal Classification (MUSIC) algorithm while the tags are fixed at specific angles. Building on this, we propose an AoA tracking method based on Kalman smoothing. Our analysis demonstrates that, while RSS and phase alone are insufficient for distinguishing certain gesture data, AoA tracking can effectively differentiate them. To evaluate the effectiveness of AoA tracking, we implement gesture recognition system benchmarks and show that incorporating AoA features significantly boosts their performance. Improvements of up to 15% confirm the value of AoA-based enhancement.
title Angle of Arrival Estimation for Gesture Recognition from reflective body-worn tags
topic Signal Processing
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.16303