Limitations on TOA Accuracy

Abstract

A directional antenna is a filter whose response varies with direction. A modulated signal transmitted from such an antenna produces different far-field waveforms in all directions (except for possible symmetry). The response of a receiver to the transmission will vary with position in the antenna pattern of the emitter. This effect is ordinarily negligible, but it could limit the ultimate performance of any system that accepts off-axis signals and relies upon the details of waveform. In a leading-edge TOA system used to determine the location of a pulsed emitter, the several receivers necessarily lie at different angular positions from that emitter. This analysis indicates that in a simple idealized TOA system that would otherwise be entirely free from error, the waveform effect arising from a directional emitter can lead to errors of several dozen meters in the computed location.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1979
Accession Number
ADA122390

Entities

People

  • T. F. Burke

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Air Force
  • Amplitude
  • Antennas
  • Bandpass Filters
  • Boundaries
  • Carrier Frequencies
  • Computer Programs
  • Computers
  • Detectors
  • Difference Frequency
  • Directional
  • Directional Antennas
  • Far Field
  • Frequency
  • Leading Edges
  • Steady State

Fields of Study

  • Engineering

Readers

  • Educational Psychology
  • Mathematics or Statistics
  • Phased Array Antenna Design.