Coherent geolocation system
First Claim
1. A method for ascertaining the location of a non-cooperative pulse train emitter initially having an unknown frequency and pulse characteristics, comprising the steps ofcollecting pulses from the non-cooperative emitter at a single collector serving as an antenna, the antenna moved to a plurality of locations, such that one moveable antenna and one receiving system are used;
- measuring the time of arrival of collected pulses at the plurality of locations using a coherent processing technique; and
,determining from the measured times of arrival of the collected pulses the location of the pulse train emitter.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A coherent TOA system is provided for rapidly ascertaining the position of a pulse train emitter such as a radar. Techniques are provided to estimate the underlying repetition interval of the emitter and to do the TOA processing knowing which of the particular pulses is being detected at a collector, thus surmounting the effect of gaps in the received pulse stream. The subject system is preferable to conventional time-difference-of-arrival geolocation systems which require that each of the collecting platforms measure the same pulse from the emitter, and also to non-coherent TOA systems whose accuracy is less than that achievable with the subject coherent system for the same amount of data.
10 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method for ascertaining the location of a non-cooperative pulse train emitter initially having an unknown frequency and pulse characteristics, comprising the steps of
collecting pulses from the non-cooperative emitter at a single collector serving as an antenna, the antenna moved to a plurality of locations, such that one moveable antenna and one receiving system are used; -
measuring the time of arrival of collected pulses at the plurality of locations using a coherent processing technique; and
,determining from the measured times of arrival of the collected pulses the location of the pulse train emitter. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of improving the accuracy of the geolocation of a pulse train emitter, comprising the steps of
coherently determining at a single receiver coupled to a single collector the times of arrival of pulses from the emitter at a plurality of different collector locations using the single collector moved from one location to another; - and,
determining emitter location from the coherently determined times of arrival of the pulses at the plurality of different collector locations. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of enhancing the accuracy of a time-of-arrival-based geolocation system for determining the location of a non-cooperative pulse train emitter having initially an unknown frequency and pulse characteristics, comprising the steps of
detecting the times of arrival of emitted pulses from the non-cooperative pulse train emitter at a single collector serving as an antenna and moved to different spaced-apart collection locations such that one moveable antenna and one receiving system are used, the receiving system performing coherent processing; - and,
determining emitter location from an ensemble of times of arrival from the spaced-apart collector locations. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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15. A system for ascertaining the location of a non-cooperative pulse train emitter initially having an unknown frequency and pulse characteristics, comprising
a single collector for collecting pulses from the emitter, said collector moved to a plurality of locations; - and,
a single receiver coupled to said single collector including a detector for measuring the time of arrival of said collected pulses at said plurality of locations using coherent processing; and
,a processing unit for determining from the measured times of arrival of the collected pulses the location of said pulse train emitter. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification