Efficient semidefinite relaxation for robust geolocation of unknown emitter by a satellite cluster using TDOA and FDOA measurements

In this paper, we consider the problem of geolocating an unknown emitter by a satellite cluster. We formulate the problem as the maximum likelihood location estimation by using TDOA and FDOA measurements and provide efficient convex relaxations for this non-convex optimization problem. We also propose a formulation for robust geolocation in the presence of satellite orbit perturbations. Simulation results confirm the efficiency and superior performance of the convex relaxation approach as compared to the existing least squares based approach when large measurement noise and orbit perturbations are present.