Bearing-only target localization with uncertainties in observer position

In this paper, the bearing-only target localization problem when the observer positions are subject to error is investigated. In this problem, the angle of arrival of the transmitted signal between target and observer are used to estimate the target position. It is assumed that not only the bearing measurements are corrupted by noise but also the exact position of observer is not available to the estimator. The accuracy of estimated location of target depends on the reliability of information from the observer position. Therefore, the previously published algorithms considering only the bearing measurement noise do not meet the expected performance when the observer positions are subject to error. The maximum likelihood, the least squares and total least square algorithms and a new method of localization based on weighted total least squares approach are developed for this problem. The corresponding Cramér-Rao lower bound (CRLB) is derived for this problem. Computer simulations are performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithms. Simulation results show that the new method can attain the CRLB for sufficiently high SNR.