Cross Correlation-based Direct Positioning for Wideband Sources using Phased Arrays

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel wideband source positioning method using cross-correlation and phased arrays, enabling accurate geolocation of multiple signals beyond existing limitations, especially in noisy environments.

Contribution

The paper proposes a new direct positioning technique exploiting wideband signal properties to surpass the number of sources limited by antenna elements.

Findings

Achieves higher accuracy than existing methods.

Allows geolocation of more sources than antenna element count.

Performs well under low signal-to-noise ratios.

Abstract

Recent developments in Phased Array direct positioning methods have improved accuracy for passively geo-locating multiple radio frequency-emitting signal sources. However, the number of geo-localisable signal sources is still limited by the number of antenna elements at each node. This is the limitation for methods based on MUSIC, otherwise known as signal subspace identification. This paper attempts to exploit properties of wideband signal sources to compartmentalise signals into their respective Time Differences of Arrival. By performing direct positioning after the compartmentalisation process, we will show that geolocation of a large number of sources can be achieved by our proposed method at accuracies that exceed all existing methods, especially under low signal-to-noise ratio conditions.