Aircraft Position Estimation using Angle of Arrival of Received Radar Signals

With increasing demand of air traffic, there is a need to optimize the use of available airspace. Effective utilization of airspace relies on quality of aircraft surveillance. Active research is carried out for enhancements in surveillance techniques.  This paper evaluates the use of MUSIC based angle of arrival (AOA) estimation along with multiangulation for locating aircrafts from their electromagnetic wave emission. The position estimation (PE) error of system is evaluated by comparing the estimated position to the actual emitter position. An analysis on the system parameters, AOA error and PE error is presented in the end. The parameters under consideration are emitter position (range and bearing), number of array elements and resolution of AOA estimation algorithm. With increasing demand of air traffic, there is a need to optimize the use of available airspace. Effective utilization of airspace relies on quality of aircraft surveillance. Active research is carried out for enhancements in surveillance techniques. This paper evaluates the use of MUSIC based angle of arrival (AOA) estimation along with multiangulation for locating aircrafts from their electromagnetic wave emission. The position estimation (PE) error of system is evaluated by comparing the estimated position to the actual emitter position. An analysis on the system parameters, AOA error and PE error is presented in the end. The parameters under consideration are emitter position (range and bearing), number of array elements and resolution of AOA estimation algorithm.