High-Precision Time Delay Estimation Based on Closed-Form Offset Compensation

To improve the estimation accuracy,a novel time delay estimation(TDE)method based on the closed-form offset compensation is proposed.Firstly,we use the generalized cross-correlation with phase transform(GCC-PHAT)method to obtain the initial TDE.Secondly,a signal model using normalized cross spectrum is established,and the noise subspace is extracted by eigenvalue decomposition(EVD)of covariance matrix.Using the orthogonal relation between the steering vector and the noise subspace,the first-order Taylor expansion is carried out on the steering vector reconstructed by the initial TDE.Finally,the offsets are compensated via simple least squares(LS).Compared to other state-of-the-art methods,the proposed method significantly reduces the computational complexity and achieves better estimation performance.Experiments on both simulation and real-world data verify the efficiency of the proposed approach.

Performance Evaluation of Three-Dimensional UWB Real-Time Locating Auto-Positioning System for Fire Rescue

Fire rescue challenges and solutions have evolved from straightfor-ward plane rescue to encompass 3D space due to the rise of high-rise city buildings.Hence,this study facilitates a system with quick and simplified on-site launching and generates real-time location data,enabling fire rescuers to arrive at the intended spot faster and correctly for effective and precise rescue.Auto-positioning with step-by-step instructions is proposed when launching the locating system,while no extra measuring instrument like Total Station(TS)is needed.Real-time location tracking is provided via a 3D space real-time locating system(RTLS)constructed using Ultra-wide Bandwidth technology(UWB),which requires electromagnetic waves to pass through concrete walls.A hybrid weighted least squares with a time difference of arrival(WLS/TDOA)positioning method is proposed to address real path-tracking issues in 3D space and to meet RTLS requirements for quick computing in real-world applications.The 3D WLS/TDOA algorithm is theoretically constructed with the Cramer-Rao lower bound(CRLB).The computing complexity is reduced to the lower bound for embedded hardware to directly compute the time differential of the arriving signals using the time-to-digital converter(TDC).The results of the experiments show that the errors are controlled when the positioning algorithm is applied in various complicated situations to fulfill the requirements of engineering applications.The statistical analysis of the data reveals that the proposed UWB RTLS auto-positioning system can track target tags with an accuracy of 0.20 m.

Triangles Technique for Time and Location Finding of the Lightning Discharge in Spherical Model of the Earth

The spherical model of time and location calculation of the lightning discharge is given. The calculations are made by means of radio signals detection by sensors of the distributed network. The full solution of a problem of lightning discharge cloud-ground type location for three sensors is given. Based on this task the lightning location method for a network of sensors was developed. By means of computational experiments, the analysis of accuracy of the model depending on radio signals detection accuracy at observing stations was done.

TOA positioning algorithm of LBL system for underwater target based on PSO

For the underwater long baseline(LBL)positioning systems,the traditional distance intersection algorithm simplifies the sound speed to a constant,and calculates the underwa-ter target position parameters with a nonlinear iteration.However,due to the complex underwater environment,the sound speed changes with time and space,and then the acoustic propagation path is actually a curve,which inevitably causes some errors to the traditional distance intersection positioning algorithm.To reduce the position error caused by the uncertain underwater sound speed,a new time of arrival(TOA)intersection underwater positioning algorithm of LBL system is proposed.Firstly,combined with the vertical layered model of the underwater sound speed,an implicit positioning model of TOA intersection is constructed through the constant gradient acoustic ray tracing.And then an optimization function based on the overall TOA residual square sum is advanced to solve the position parameters for the underwater target.Moreover,the particle swarm optimization(PSO)algorithm is replaced with the tra-ditional nonlinear least square method to optimize the implicit positioning model of TOA intersection.Compared with the traditional distance intersection positioning model,the TOA intersec-tion positioning model is more suitable for the engineering practice and the optimization algorithm is more effective.Simulation results show that the proposed methods in this paper can effectively improve the positioning accuracy for the underwater target.

Aviation multi-station collaborative detecting based on time-frequency correlation of data-link

As an important application research topic of the intelligent aviation multi-station, collaborative detecting must overcome the problem of scouting measurement with status of 'fragmentation', and the NP-hardness problem of matching association between target and measurement in the process of scouting to data-link, which has complicated technical architecture of network construction. In this paper, taking advantage of cooperation mechanism on signal level in the aviation multi-station sympathetic network, a method of obtaining target time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurement using multi-station collaborative detecting based on time-frequency association is proposed. The method can not only achieve matching between target and its measurement, but also obtain TDOA measurement by further evolutionary transaction through refreshing sequential pulse time of arrival (TOA) measurement matrix for matching and correlating. Simulation results show that the accuracy of TDOA measurement has significant superiority over TOA, and detection probability of false TDOA measurement introduced by noise and fake measurement can be reduced effectively.

Hybrid TDOA/FDOA and track optimization of UAV swarm based on A-optimality

The source location based on the hybrid time difference of arrival(TDOA)/frequency difference of arrival(FDOA) is a basic problem in wireless sensor networks, and the layout of sensors in the hybrid TDOA/FDOA positioning will greatly affect the accuracy of positioning. Using unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV) as base stations, by optimizing the trajectory of the UAV swarm, an optimal positioning configuration is formed to improve the accuracy of the target position and velocity estimation. In this paper, a hybrid TDOA/FDOA positioning model is first established, and the positioning accuracy of the hybrid TDOA/FDOA under different positioning configurations and different measurement errors is simulated by the geometric dilution of precision(GDOP) factor. Second, the Cramer-Rao lower bound(CRLB) matrix of hybrid TDOA/FDOA location under different moving states of the target is derived theoretically, the objective function of the track optimization is obtained, and the track of the UAV swarm is optimized in real time. The simulation results show that the track optimization effectively improves the accuracy of the target position and velocity estimation.

Performance analysis of an indoor UWB ranging system

To evaluate the ranging performance of impulse radio ultra wideband （IR-UWB） signals, an experiment is performed in a typical indoor environment. In order to mitigate the ranging error caused by theoretical algorithm and practical circuits, one way-time difference of the arrival （OW-TDOA） ranging method and corresponding approaches are proposed and carried out according to the structure of UWB transceivers. Generalized maximum likelihood （GML） estimator based on energy detection is applied for the time of arrival estimation. The obtained results show that this UWB ranging system can achieve a relative high ranging accuracy in a multipath environment （e.g. about 5 cm at ranges up to 6 m）, which is practical and meaningful for many sensor applications.

Three-Dimensional Sound Source Location Algorithm for Subsea Leakage Using Hydrophone

Leakages from subsea oil and gas equipment cause substantial economic losses and damage to marine ecosystem,so it is essential to locate the source of the leak.However,due to the complexity and variability of the marine environment,the signals collected by hydrophone contain a variety of noises,which makes it challenging to extract useful signals for localization.To solve this problem,a hydrophone denoising algorithm is proposed based on variational modal decomposition(VMD)with grey wolf optimization.First,the average envelope entropy is used as the fitness function of the grey wolf optimizer to find the optimal solution for the parameters K andα.Afterward,the VMD algorithm decomposes the original signal parameters to obtain the intrinsic mode functions(IMFs).Subsequently,the number of interrelationships between each IMF and the original signal was calculated,the threshold value was set,and the noise signal was removed to calculate the time difference using the valid signal obtained by reconstruction.Finally,the arrival time difference is used to locate the origin of the leak.The localization accuracy of the method in finding leaks is investigated experimentally by constructing a simulated leak test rig,and the effectiveness and feasibility of the method are verified.

Passive Localization of Signal Source Based on UAVs in Complex Environment

For the influence caused by multipath fading and non-line-of-sight(NLOS)transmission,it is challenging to accurately localize a moving signal source in complex environment by using the wireless sensor network(WSN)on the ground.In this paper,we establish a special WSN in the sky to address this challenge,where each sensor is loaded on an unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)and the operation center of all the UAVs is fixed on the ground.Based on the analyzing of the optimal distribution and the position error calibration of all the sensors,we formulate the localization scheme to estimate the position of the target source,which combines the time difference of arrival(TDOA)method and the frequency difference of arrival(FDOA)method.Then by employing the semidefinite programming approach,we accurately obtain the position and velocity of the signal source.In the simulation,the validity of the proposed method is verified through the performance comparison.

TDOA and track optimization of UAV swarm based on D-optimality

To solve the problem of time difference of arrival(TDOA)positioning and tracking of targets by the unmanned aerial vehicles(UAV)swarm in future air combat,this paper adopts the TDOA positioning method and uses time difference sensors of the UAV swarm to locate target radiation sources.Firstly,a TDOA model for the target is set up for the UAV swarm under the condition that the error variance varies with the received signal-to-noise ratio.The accuracy of the positioning error is analyzed by geometric dilution of precision(GDOP).The D-optimality criterion of the positioning model is theoretically derived.The target is positioned and settled,and the maximum value of the Fisher information matrix determinant is used as the optimization objective function to optimize the track of the UAV in real time.Simulation results show that the track optimization improves the positioning accuracy and stability of the UAV swarm to the target.

COMPARISON OF TDOA LOCATION ALGORITHMS WITH DIRECT SOLUTION METHOD

For Time Difference Of Arrival(TDOA) location based on multi-ground stations scene,two direct solution methods are proposed to solve the target position in TDOA location.Therein,the solving methods are realized in the rectangular and polar coordinates.On the condition of rectangular coordinates,first of all,it solves the radial range between the target and reference station,then cal-culates the location of the target.In the case of polar coordinates,the azimuth between the target and reference station is solved first,then the radial range between the target and reference station is figured out,finally the location of the target is obtained.Simultaneously,the simulation and comparison analysis are given in detail,and show that the polar solving method has the better fuzzy performance than that of rectangular coordinate.

Novel method for radial velocity difference estimation of moving targets with wideband signals

For the frequency difference of arrival （FDOA） esti-mation in passive location, this paper transforms the frequency difference estimation into the radial velocity difference estimation, which is difficult to achieve a high accuracy due to the mismatch between the sampling period and the pulse repetition interval. The proposed algorithm firstly estimates the point-in-time that each pulse arrives at two receivers accurately. Secondly two time of arrival （TOA） sequences are subtracted. And final y the radial ve-locity difference of a target relative to two stations with the least square method is estimated. This algorithm only needs accurate estimation of the time delay between pulses and is not influenced by parameters such as frequency and modulation mode. It avoids transmitting a large amount of data between two stations in real time. Simulation results corroborate that the performance is bet-ter than the arithmetic average of the Cramer-Rao lower bound （CRLB） for monopulse under suitable conditions.

Measurement of X-ray photon energy and arrival time using a silicon drift detector

Detecting the X-ray emission of pulsars and obtaining the photons＇ time of arrival are the foundational steps in autonomous navigation via X-ray pulsar measurement.The precision of a pulse＇s time of arrival is mainly determined by the precision of photon arrival time measurement.In this work,a silicon drift detector is used to measure photon energy and arrival time.The measurement system consists of a signal detector,a processing unit,a signal acquisition unit and a data receiving unit.This system acquires the energy resolution and arrival time information of photons.In particular,background noise with different energies disturbs pulse profile forming,the system can also achieve a high signal-to-noise ratio profile.Ground test results show that this system can be applied in autonomous navigation based on X-ray pulsar measurement.

Max-Min Adaptive Ant Colony Optimization Approach to Multi-UAVs Coordinated Trajectory Replanning in Dynamic and Uncertain Environments

Multiple Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles (multi-UAVs) coordinated trajectory replanning is one of the most complicated global optimum problems in multi-UAVs coordinated control. Based on the construction of the basic model of multi-UAVs coordinated trajectory replanning, which includes problem description, threat modeling, constraint conditions, coordinated function and coordination mechanism, a novel Max-Min adaptive Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) approach is presented in detail. In view of the characteristics of multi-UAVs coordinated trajectory replanning in dynamic and uncertain environments, the minimum and maximum pheromone trails in ACO are set to enhance the searching capability, and the point pheromone is adopted to achieve the collision avoidance between UAVs at the trajectory planner layer. Considering the simultaneous arrival and the air-space collision avoidance, an Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) is decided first. Then the trajectory and flight velocity of each UAV are determined. Simulation experiments are performed under the complicated combating environment containing some static threats and popup threats. The results demonstrate the feasibility and the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Review of X-ray pulsar spacecraft autonomous navigation

This article provides a review on X-ray pulsar-based navigation(XNAV).The review starts with the basic concept of XNAV,and briefly introduces the past,present and future projects concerning XNAV.This paper focuses on the advances of the key techniques supporting XNAV,including the navigation pulsar database,the X-ray detection system,and the pulse time of arrival estimation.Moreover,the methods to improve the estimation performance of XNAV are reviewed.Finally,some remarks on the future development of XNAV are provided.

TOAesti mation algorithm based on multi-search

A new time of arrival （TOA） estimation algorithm is proposed. The algorithm computes the optimal sub-eorrelation length based on the SNR theory. So the robust of TOA acquirement is guaranteed very well. Then, aceording to the actual transmission environment and network system, the multi-search method is given. From the simulation result, the algorithm shows a very high application value in the realization of wireless location system （WLS）.

Performance optimization for quantum key distribution in lossy channel using entangled photons

In quantum key distribution（QKD）, the times of arrival of single photons are important for the keys extraction and time synchronization. The time-of-arrival（TOA） accuracy can affect the quantum bit error rate（QBER） and the final key rate. To achieve a higher accuracy and a better QKD performance, different from designing more complicated hardware circuits, we present a scheme that uses the mean TOA of M frequency-entangled photons to replace the TOA of a single photon. Moreover, to address the problem that the entanglement property is usually sensitive to the photon loss in practice,we further propose two schemes, which adopt partially entangled photons and grouping-entangled photons, respectively.In addition, we compare the effects of these three alternative schemes on the QKD performance and discuss the selection strategy for the optimal scheme in detail. The simulation results show that the proposed schemes can improve the QKD performance compared to the conventional single-photon scheme obviously, which demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed schemes.

Absorbing boundary condition as limiting case of imaginary potentials

Imaginary potentials such as V(x)=−iσ1Ω(x)(withσ>0 a constant,Ωa subset of 3-space,and 1Ωits characteristic function)have been used in quantum mechanics as models of a detector.They represent the effect of a‘soft’detector that takes a while to notice a particle in the detector volumeΩ.In order to model a‘hard’detector(i.e.one that registers a particle as soon as it entersΩ),one may think of taking the limitσ→∞of increasing detector strengthσ.However,as pointed out by Allcock,in this limit the particle never entersΩ;its wave function gets reflected at the boundary∂ΩofΩin the same way as by a Dirichlet boundary condition on∂Ω.This phenomenon,a cousin of the‘quantum Zeno effect,’might suggest that a hard detector is mathematically impossible.Nevertheless,a mathematical description of a hard detector has recently been put forward in the form of the‘absorbing boundary rule’involving an absorbing boundary condition on the detecting surface∂Ω.We show here that in a suitable(non-obvious)limit,the imaginary potential V yields a non-trivial distribution of detection time and place in agreement with the absorbing boundary rule.That is,a hard detector can be obtained as a limit,but it is a different limit than Allcock considered.

Practical constrained least-square algorithm for moving source location using TDOA and FDOA measurements

By utilizing the time difference of arrival （TDOA） and frequency difference of arrival （FDOA） measurements of signals received at a number of receivers, a constrained least-square （CLS） algorithm for estimating the position and velocity of a moving source is proposed. By utilizing the Lagrange multipliers technique, the known relation between the intermediate variables and the source location coordinates could be exploited to constrain the solution. And without requiring apriori knowledge of TDOA and FDOA measurement noises, the proposed algorithm can satisfy the demand of practical applications. Additionally, on basis of con- volute and polynomial rooting operations, the Lagrange multipliers can be obtained efficiently and robustly allowing real-time imple- mentation and global convergence. Simulation results show that the proposed estimator achieves remarkably better performance than the two-step weighted least square （WLS） approach especially for higher measurement noise level.

Joint TDOA and AOA location algorithm

For the joint time difference of arrival（TDOA） and angle of arrival（AOA） location scene,two methods are proposed based on the rectangular coordinates and the polar coordinates,respectively.The problem is solved perfectly by calculating the target position with the joint TDOA and AOA location.On the condition of rectangular coordinates,first of all,it figures out the radial range between target and reference stations,then calculates the location of the target.In the case of polar coordinates,first of all,it figures out the azimuth between target and reference stations,then figures out the radial range between target and reference stations,finally obtains the location of the target.Simultaneously,simulation analyses show that the theoretical analysis is correct,and the proposed methods also provide the application of the joint TDOA and AOA location algorithm with the theoretical basis.