A METHOD OF TIME-OF-ARRIVAL ESTIMATION FOR DIRECT-PATH SIGNAL DETECTION IN AN ULTRA-WIDE BAND LOCALIZER

摘要

A method (100) of time-of-arrival estimation for direct-path signal detection in an ultra-wide band localizer using a maximum likelihood estimation algorithm to estimate an arrival time of a first-path signal (102), to compute a probability of direct-path signal false match (104) and to compute a probability of missed direct-path signal (106), wherein the method comprises steps of performing a search cycle with a value, N number of iterations to identify a phase match (108) of a direct-path signal; if the phase match of the direct-path signal is identified, an acquisition time is computed (114) and a mean acquisition time is computed (116), however if the phase match of the direct-path signal is not identified and the value, N has been exceeded, the probability of missed direct- path signal is re-computed (106) and performing the search cycle with the value, N number of iterations is repeated; and computing time-of-arrival (118) of the direct-path signal wherein time-of-arrival is a sum of the arrival time of the first-path signal and the mean acquisition time.