Global sensitivity analysis of terrain effects in geolocation systems

The design of geolocation systems has traditionally used linearized models or one-at-a-time sensitivity analyses, which ignore most of the design space. Global sensitivity analysis algorithms enable more complete system characterization for more complex, nondifferentiable models, such as a digital elevation model (DEM). This paper develops the necessary framework for applying global sensitivity analysis methods to geolocation systems and demonstrates the algorithm´s enhanced fidelity by applying it to an example angle of arrival and DEM geolocation system. Terrain roughness is found to be a significant parameter solely through interaction effects with other parameters, effects that would have been missed by simpler analyses.