Abstract: Combining the characteristics of distributed subarray antennas (DSA) and bistatic multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar, a novel algorithm for direction of departure (DOD) and direction of arrival (DOA) estimation is proposed.First, according to spatial rotational invariance of transmitting array and receiving array, we use estimation of signal parameters via rotational invariance techniques (ESPRIT) algorithm to obtain the non-ambiguous coarse DOA estimation and the high accurate but cyclically ambiguous fine DOD and DOA estimation.Then, the high accurate and unambiguous DOD and DOA estimation can be obtained by using the non-ambiguous coarse DOA estimation, range information of targets, and the geometry of bistatic MIMO radar to disambiguate the above mentioned cyclic ambiguity.Last, the performance of the proposed algorithm is analyzed according to the ESPRIT algorithm principle and the statistic characteristics of estimation error.We also give an approximate method for calculating baseline thr-eshold.The proposed algorithm relaxes the restriction on the aperture of transmitting array, and the accuracy of angle estimation is improved under large aperture array.Moreover, the DOD and DOA estimation using our method is automatically paired.Simulation results show the good performance of proposed method and the effectiveness of performance analysis method.