A Graphic Representation of the Necessary Condition for the MAFA Method

The modified ambiguity function approach (MAFA) is one of the integer least square estimation methods. Although it is a simple and efficient method, it has a significant limitation. This limitation is formulated and analyzed in this paper. A graphical representation of the necessary condition for the MAFA method is presented by plots of Voronoi cells and error ellipsoids, along with a detailed procedure for constructing these plots. It is shown that the necessary condition for the MAFA method is not satisfied in some cases. To overcome this problem, a solution is presented in the final section of this paper.