A Novel Land-Based High-Frequency Geolocation System

A novel land-based high-frequency (HF) geolocation system is proposed. The geolocating signals are transmitted from the stations with known geographic coordinates. Because of the ionospheric refraction, the signals propagate as skywave in the over-the-horizon (OTH) manner. Therefore, a wide spatial coverage can be achieved. The receiving station uses a small 2-D antenna array to estimate the angle of arrival (AOA) of each transmitter’s signal. An intersecting geolocation algorithm based on the geometric relations between the transmitters, and the receiver is described, which only relies on the coordinates of the transmission stations and the azimuth angles of the signals. A novel specific multichannel system structure is also described. It has a simple structure and low hardware cost, as well as good flexibility. The preliminary experimental results prove the feasibility of this geolocation method and its engineering application significance.