Algebraic solution for stationary emitter geolocation by a LEO satellite using Doppler frequency measurements

Abstract

This paper presents a new algebraic solution for the Doppler positioning problem where the position of a stationary emitter is estimated from Doppler frequency measurements collected by a single low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite. The proposed algebraic solution can be used for effective initialization of more sophisticated iterative algorithms as it produces estimates sufficiently close to the actual position of the emitter to ensure convergence. It is computationally more efficient than existing initialization techniques, based on the point of closest approach, which require expensive nonlinear curve fitting procedures. The effectiveness of the proposed algebraic solution is demonstrated by way of numerical simulations.