Aircraft position estimation using angle of arrival of received radar signals

Freeha Majeed Amjad,Kamaludin Mohamad Yusof,Ahmad Zuri Sha'Ameri,Paulson Eberechukwu

doi:10.11591/eei.v9i6.2273

Freeha Majeed Amjad, Kamaludin Mohamad Yusof + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.11591/eei.v9i6.2273

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Abstract

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 and various methods are evaluated for future use. This paper evaluates the use of multiple signal classification (MUSIC) based angle of arrival (AOA) estimation along with multiangulation for locating aircrafts from their electromagnetic wave emission. The performance evaluation of the system is presented by evaluating the AOA estimation errors and position estimation (PE) errors. The errors are evaluated by comparing the estimated value to the actual value. An analysis on the system parameters, AOA error and PE error are presented in the end. AOA errors are affected by the AOA value (emitter bearing), number of array elements, SNR and resolution of AOA estimation algorithm. Errors in AOA estimation lead to PE errors. The simulation results show small errors for short ranges. The system performance can be improved at the expense of computational time by using higher MUSIC resolution and larger antenna arrays

Highlights

Meeting the growing demand for air traffic largely depends on functionality of air traffic control (ATC) center which is responsible for locating aircraft accurately and updating each aircraft about the traffic in its surroundings [1]
The evaluation of system performance is based on errors in angle of arrival (AOA) estimation and position estimation (PE) estimation
Effect of varying SNR on AOA estimation error The multiple signal classification (MUSIC) algorithm was tested for various angles using Monte Carlo simulation for SNR values ranging from 25 to 55 dB

Summary

Introduction

Meeting the growing demand for air traffic largely depends on functionality of air traffic control (ATC) center which is responsible for locating aircraft accurately and updating each aircraft about the traffic in its surroundings [1]. Safety of air traffic flow depends on the quality of air traffic surveillance technique. Efficient surveillance can expedite the flow of air traffic and optimize the use of available airspace, allowing more aircrafts to fly simultaneously [2]. A typical air traffic control radar system consists of the primary surveillance radar (PSR) and secondary surveillance radar (SSR). With the use of SSR, the aircraft identity and altitude can be determined. The SSR sends an interrogation signal at an uplink frequency of 1030 MHz while the aircraft’s transponder replies at downlink frequency of 1090 MHz [3]. Aircrafts equipped with ADS-B transponders send signals periodically at 0.5 or 1 seconds at 1090 MHz using one of the formats used in mode S namely the mode S Extended

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