An Algorithm for Simultaneous Radiolocation of Multiple Sources

This article explores an alternative to the author´s earlier work in radiolocation of mobile communication devices. Radiolocation method developed earlier addresses two significant issues in radio communication: it determines the location of potentially uncooperative interlocutors, and, by guiding the directional response, it alleviates the loss of signal strength with distance. In this article an algebraic algorithm is investigated, which reconstructs the directions of incoming radio transmissions from signal strengths on a ring of radially oriented directional antennas; it is based on a suitable basis-set representation of the incoming signal. This algorithm is well suited for time-critical, embedded and parallel ASIC implementations. Present algorithm locates multiple (non-coherent) radio sources simultaneously, a feature that is of interest for applications beyond the original single-source radiolocation developed for wireless networking. Mathematical basis of the algorithm is explained, issues of accuracy and resolution are discussed, and the approach is illustrated with simulated examples of radiolocation.