Constrained total least-squares location algorithm using time-difference-of-arrival measurements

Determining the location of a source from its emissions has gained considerable interest over the past few years. In this paper, by utilizing the time difference of arrival (TDOA) of a signal received at spatially separated sensors, a novel algorithm for source location is proposed. The algorithm is based on the constrained total least-squares (CTLS) technique, and an iterative technique based on Newton's method is utilized to give a numerical solution. By using a perturbation analysis, the bias and covariance of the proposed CTLS algorithm are also derived. Simulation results show that the proposed CTLS algorithm gives sufficient accuracy with lower computational cost, and more importantly, it is more robust to large measurement noise than the compared algorithms.