Multi-TDOA Estimation and Source Direct Position Determination Based on Parallel Factor Analysis

In this article, source localization exploiting time difference of arrival (TDOA) information is discussed, and a parallel factor (PARAFAC) analysis-based method for multi-TDOA estimation and direct position determination (DPD) is proposed. First, signals from the radiation source are received by multiple antennas through synchronous sensing. Then, the data from multiple antennas is fused by extracting the time-delay matrix to construct a PARAFAC model. Thereafter, the time-delay matrix is obtained by fast iterative decomposition using the trilinear alternating least square (TALS) algorithm. In the case of no multipath or weak multipath, where the typical scenario is the antennas being deployed on the airborne platform, the multi-TDOA estimation can be obtained simultaneously according to the time-delay matrix to improve the processing speed. In the case of multipath, such as the antennas being located on the ground, the DPD cost function directly related to the source position can be established based on the time-delay matrix, and the source position estimation can be achieved through grid search. Compared with the other DPD methods, the proposed DPD method has better positioning performance and lower complexity. The effectiveness and superiority of the proposed methods are verified by both simulations and actual scenario tests.