A Joint TDOA/AOA Three-Dimensional Localization Algorithm for Spacecraft Internal

Abstract

Considering the lack of three-dimensional localization scheme for spacecraft internal, a joint TDOA/AOA three-dimensional localization algorithm based on Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is proposed in this paper. WSN is deployed in the spacecraft which is composed of reference nodes and unknown nodes, and the reference nodes’ position are known which help to locate the unknown nodes. Only six reference nodes are enough for the proposed method to localize all the unknown nodes within the WSN in three-dimension theoretically, and the synchronization of the network is not necessary, satisfying the low complexity requirement of the WSN. TDOA (Time Difference of Arrival) is adopted to estimate AOA (Angle of Arrival), and the angle is estimated by the hierarchical deployment of the reference nodes by which the complicated antenna arrays for AOA are avoided. A three dimensional coordinate is established by setting the plane of the reference nodes as plane XOY and the z coordinate is computed according to the angle estimated by the AOA. Finally, the unknown node is projected on the plane XOY, and the x coordinate and y coordinate are computed by trilateration localization tragedy.