A TDOA Estimation Method Through Phase Difference Square Sums (PDSS)

Abstract

In order to improve the performance of TDOA estimation under multipath, non-line-of-sight and narrow signal bandwidth conditions, a time difference of arrival (TDOA) estimation method by Phase Difference Square Sum (PDSS) is introduced. Within the baseline time-lags of two separate receivers, PDSS between two received samples of the same signal are calculated for per lag; the TDOA is estimated by searching the minimum of PDSS. Under the condition of different signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and Sample rates to Signal bandwidth ratio, the estimation error distribution of the PDSS are simulated, and are compared with the generalized cross correlation with phase transform (GCC-PHAT). In multipath propagation and non-line-of-sight environment of the metropolis, the estimation success rates are experimented to evaluate PDSS’s performance relative to GCC_PHAT.