Emitter Location with Azimuth and Elevation Measurements Using a Single Aerial Platform for Electronic Support Missions

• Main Author: Mohamed Khalaf-Allah
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-06-01
• Series: Sensors
• Subjects: emitter location; geolocation; three-dimensional (3D) positioning; angle of arrival (AoA); triangulation; azimuth
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/12/3946

Passive ground emitter geolocation techniques are essential to electronic warfare systems, as they provide threat warnings in hostile environments, while ensuring the electronic silence of the mission platform. Geolocation of enemy emitters indicates the position of and type of adversary troops, and allows for the use of guided munition against enemy targets. Three-dimensional geolocation solutions based on least squares and particle filter estimation, using only azimuth and elevation measurements, were considered. Three batch-processing and one instantaneous solution algorithms, i.e., using a single pulse or a single observation point, were developed and investigated. The performance of the proposed solutions was demonstrated by simulations. Results showed that the batch-processing solutions achieved acceptable accuracies with a sufficient number of observation points. The performance degraded with fewer observation points. The instantaneous geolocation solution improved performance with increasing observation points, i.e., working in the sequential mode, and therefore could approach the accuracy of the batch-processing solutions.