Sequential TOA-Based Moving Target Localization in Multi-Agent Networks

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel multi-agent network system for localizing moving targets using sequential TOA measurements, employing an extended TSWLS method that estimates position and velocity while addressing clock offsets, achieving near-optimal accuracy.

Contribution

The paper proposes a new sequential TOA-based localization method with an extended TSWLS approach for joint position and velocity estimation in multi-agent networks, handling clock offsets and outperforming existing algorithms.

Findings

Method reaches the Cramer-Rao lower bound under small noise conditions.

Proposed algorithm outperforms existing localization algorithms.

Addresses large target clock offset (LTCO) for improved stability.

Abstract

Localizing moving targets in unknown harsh environments has always been a severe challenge. This letter investigates a novel localization system based on multi-agent networks, where multiple agents serve as mobile anchors broadcasting their time-space information to the targets. We study how the moving target can localize itself using the sequential time of arrival (TOA) of the one-way broadcast signals. An extended two-step weighted least squares (TSWLS) method is proposed to jointly estimate the position and velocity of the target in the presence of agent information uncertainties. We also address the large target clock offset (LTCO) problem for numerical stability. Analytical results reveal that our method reaches the Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) under small noises. Numerical results show that the proposed method performs better than the existing algorithms.