Geolocation of Pulses Using Bispherical Coordinates and Multiple Omnidirectional Receivers

George N. Gilliam, Tracie A. Severson

Peer Reviewed

Abstract: The deployment of small unmanned aerial systems (UAS’s) has expanded the capability to find RF transmitters since they can travel far distances without human intervention. Due to their compact nature, however, UAS’s have tight limitations on the size, weight, and power (SWaP) associated with their payloads, thus reducing the number of receivers they can carry. This reduction makes standard triangulation techniques difficult to implement on a single drone since at least three receivers are required to geolocate an RF transmitter. In order to address this challenge; the authors suggest the deployment of three UAS’s in a V formation to collect signal data from an RF transmitter. This data is then processed by applying a bispherical coordinate system to estimate the position of the transmitter. To validate this approach, the authors created simulated data based on physical models of UAS’s with RF receivers operating at varying distances and speeds in a practical application. Monte Carlo simulations were run under various noise conditions to quantify the performance of the proposed methods.
Published in: Proceedings of the ION 2019 Pacific PNT Meeting
April 8 - 11, 2019
Hilton Waikiki Beach
Honolulu, Hawaii
Pages: 160 - 170
Cite this article: Gilliam, George N., Severson, Tracie A., "Geolocation of Pulses Using Bispherical Coordinates and Multiple Omnidirectional Receivers," Proceedings of the ION 2019 Pacific PNT Meeting, Honolulu, Hawaii, April 2019, pp. 160-170. https://doi.org/10.33012/2019.16801
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