Bayesian geolocation and parameter estimation by retaining channel and state information

Abstract

There is provided a method of parameter estimation in a multi-channel signal environment where a plurality of receive antennas receive signals from one or more transmitters that transmit a signal or wave that is reflected from one or more targets, or receive antennas that receive directly from the transmitters, whose received signals are processed over multiple frequencies or channels by a digital receiver. The method comprises (a) calibrating before the operation of the digital receiver to determine the free parameters of a mathematical model of a channel either as the channel model parameters or in the form of tabulated data; (b) calibrating during the operation of the digital receiver to determine the channel model; (c) comparing received antennas array voltages to an analytic or table driven channel model from a calibrated template without only relying on information lossy intermediate steps such as delay time of arrival or angle of arrival measurements; (d) creating a statistical likelihood function modeling receiver noise to determine model channel parameters or prior channel uncertainty; (e) saving target reflector/emitter parameters to be reused for dynamic tracking; and (f) using Bayesian particle filtering or Maximum Likelihood Methods to update mixture models for the unknown parameters.