SIGNAL TDOA BASED HIGH RESOLUTION TSPI

Abstract

This paper describes a method for determining high resolution time, space, and position information for a test range flight vehicle using four tracking receivers. Equipped with GPS time systems, each receiver records the exact time at which a time marker embedded in the transmitted TM data stream is received. With this information, the time difference of arrival for the time markers at three of the receivers can be calculated referenced to the fourth. Using this time difference, the position of the transmitter can be determined. The accuracy with which the received signal time delay can be calculated depends on the accuracy of the GPS time system at each receiver. The effect of time accuracy on positional resolution is evaluated.