Cooperative Passive Location of Multi-UAVs Based on TDOA-DOA Fusion Algorithm

Electronic warfare plays an essential role in modern warfare. In this background, the multiple UAVs cooperative passive positioning technology, which has the advantages of long operating distance and strong concealment, has received significant attention. Considering the scenario of three UAVs attacking enemy surface ships in a naval battle, this paper proposes a collaborative passive localization algorithm based on TDOA and DOA to solve the positioning problem in three-dimensional space. Firstly, we establish a passive location model according to the time delay and measurement errors of the ship target and UAV. Second, the nonlinear terms are linearized using the relative spatial position between the ship and the UAV. Third, a loss function is constructed for the error term, and the least square estimation algorithm obtains the ship coordinate position. Finally, we design two comparative experiments. One discusses the influence of acute angle, isosceles, right angle, equilateral and obtuse angle five UAV spatial structures on positioning accuracy; the other explores the impact of different delay and measurement errors on positioning accuracy. The numerical simulation results effectively verify the model’s rationality and the algorithm’s effectiveness.