Radar Transmitter Geolocation via Novel Observation Technique and Particle Swarm Optimization

The ability to precisely determine the location of radar transmitters can be crucially important in maintaining domain awareness. This, however, may be problematic with traditional methods when used with a distributed network of disparate sensors. A novel geolocation technique for circularly scanning radar transmitters is introduced. This technique uses the differenced central times of arrival (DCTOA) of the main beam as an observable. The solution for the transmitter's position and scan rate are given using a weighted least squares approach as well as a particle swarm optimizer. Experimental results show this technique is able to locate a radar transmitter within 11 meters, while maintaining minimal complexity. This technique has the advantage of requiring orders of magnitude less timing synchronization among receivers, an order of magnitude less data transfer, and it does not require simultaneous illumination of receivers. This article was prepared for the 2012 IEEE Aerospace Conference, Big Sky, MT on 3-10 Mar 2012.