Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA)

By : Artha Tiara
13212047
 Definition
Time difference of arrival (TDOA) is an electronic
technique used in direction finding and
navigation, in which the time of arrival of a
specific signal, at physically separate receiving
stations with precisely synchronized time
references, are calculated. In the military
context, it is part of both electronic warfare and
measurement and signature intelligence.
 Application
•LORAN-C
Navigation system using TDOA of signals from multiple synchronized transmitters

•Mobile phone tracking

using multiple base stations to estimate phone location (by either the phone itself, or
the phone network)

•GPS
Worldwide navigation system using TDOA of signals from multiple synchronized satellite-
based transmitters

•Military and Electronic warfare

Sound Ranging, Electronic Targets, Decca Navigator System, OMEGA Navigation System,
Wide Area Multilateration (WAM), Airport Surface Detection Equipment, etc
 Loran-C Basic
The basic “Loran-C like” system consists of three or more reference transmitting stations,
each separated by a minimum amount of distance (TBD). Within the transmitting chain,
one station is designated as Master while the rest are secondaries. The Master and
Secondary stations transmit at precise time intervals. The receiver of interest measures
the slight differences in the time that it takes for these signals to reach the receiver.
In general, you could say that when the Master signal is received, it is the "Start" of the
Stopwatch. When a secondary station is received it is the "Stop" for one TD. Again, the
time difference from the receipt of the Master signal to a second secondary is measured.
This gives you your second line of the TD. So, when the Master signal is received, it took
so many nanoseconds until the receipt of the first secondary signal. It then took another
so many nanoseconds until the receipt of the second secondary, and so forth.
The user can now plot their position on charts especially generated for Hyperbolic
Location. Obviously, the position would actually be determined via algorithms that will
convert the TD's to a more common coordinate system.
 TIME DIFFERENCE
MEASUREMENTS

The basic measurements made

by Loran-C receivers are to
determine the difference in the
time-of-arrival (TD) between the
master signal and the signals
from each of the secondary
stations of a chain. In Loran-C,
each TD value is measured to a
precision of about 100
nanoseconds or better. As a rule
of thumb, 100 nanoseconds
corresponds to about 30 meters.
The principle of time difference
measurements in hyperbolic
mode is illustrated in the
adjacent figure.
 TDOA Geometry
Emitter location
E = (x,y,z)

Receiver location
Pm = (xm ,ym ,zm); 0≤m≤N
N : number of receiver

Distance from emitter to one of

receiver
 Positioning from TDOA
(2D position)

Mobile (E)
Anchor 1,2,3 (P1, P2, P3)
Anchor 3
(xA3,yA3)
With equation (1), we get D1,D2 and
Anchor 2
D3. (xA2,yA2)
D3-D1 = d31
D3-D2 = d32
Mobile
From d32 and d32 we get mobile (xm,ym)
location (xm,ym) with hyperbolic
position location algorithm
Anchor 1
d 32  x A3  xM  y
2
A3  yM  2
 x A2  xM  y
2
A2  yM  2 (xA1,yA1)

d 31  x A3  xM  y
2
A3  yM  2
 x A1  xM  y
2
A1  yM  2
 Reference
• https://srbuenaf.webs.ull.es/potencia/hyperb
olic%20location/HyperbolicLocation.pdf
• http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a3607
74.pdf
• http://users.isy.liu.se/en/rt/fredrik/reports/0
3icasspgustafsson.pdf
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multilateration
• Project: IEEE P802.15 Working Group for Wireless
Personal Area Networks (WPANs)