Abstract

Passive localization of aircraft in flight using signal time of arrival (TOA) poses some unique challenges. The sensors must be deployed in an approximately coplanar configuration, which produces significant vertical uncertainty in the estimated position. This dissertation examines the traditional algorithms used in passive localization. It presents general forms of linear TOA, time difference of arrival (TDOA), angle of arrival (AOA), and frequency difference of arrival (FDOA) equations from the literature and explains how to apply an intuitive geometric interpretation of these equations. It presents two novel algorithms for passive localization. One uses a one dimensional AOA (1AOA) to improve the vertical estimate. The other employs an a priori estimate to approximate the non-linear localization problem as a linear problem and produce a high quality position estimate. A comprehensive survey of the literature is presented. This dissertation provides a summary and classification of passive localization algorithms from the literature with simple descriptions of how the form of the equations relate to their numerical stability. It presents two novel algorithms for passive localization. The hybrid multilateration and triangulation algorithm improves wide area multilateration by using vertical 1AOA to constrain the vertical position. The multilateration with a priori estimates algorithm provides a linear localization method that utilizes previous location estimates.

Degree

PhD

College and Department

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering; Electrical and Computer Engineering

Rights

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