Development and Demonstration of a TDOA-Based GNSS Interference Signal Localization System

J.A. Bhatti, T.E. Humphreys, and B.M. Ledvina

Abstract:	Background theory, a reference design, and demonstration results are given for a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) interference localization system comprising a distributed radio-frequency sensor network that simultaneously locates multiple interference sources by measuring their signals’ time difference of arrival (TDOA) between pairs of nodes in the network. The end-to-end solution offered here draws from previous work in single-emitter group delay estimation, very long baseline interferometry, subspace-based estimation, radar, and passive geolocation. Synchronization and automatic localization of sensor nodes is achieved through a tightly-coupled receiver architecture that enables phase-coherent and synchronous sampling of the interference signals and so-called reference signals which carry timing and positioning information. Signal and cross-correlation models are developed and implemented in a simulator. Multiple-emitter subspace-based TDOA estimation techniques are developed as well as emitter identification and localization algorithms. Simulator performance is compared to the Cramér- Rao lower bound for single-emitter TDOA precision. Results are given for a test exercise in which the system accurately locates emitters broadcasting in the amateur radio band in Austin, TX.
Published in:	Proceedings of IEEE/ION PLANS 2012 April 24 - 26, 2012 Myrtle Beach Marriott Resort & Spa Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Pages:	455 - 469
Cite this article:	Bhatti, J.A., Humphreys, T.E., Ledvina, B.M., "Development and Demonstration of a TDOA-Based GNSS Interference Signal Localization System," Proceedings of IEEE/ION PLANS 2012, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina , April 2012, pp. 455-469. https://doi.org/10.1109/PLANS.2012.6236915
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