Localization accuracy of multi-mode emitters in target-dense scenarios

This paper extends previous work on the prediction of passive emitter localization accuracy to the case of multiple closely-spaced sources that emit agile, pulsed waveforms. The proposed approach is based on the iterative calculation of the multi-source Cramér-Rao Bound, conditioned by the probability of generating a measurement for a given source at a specific time instant. Such probability is derived from the probability of intercepting a pulse train by a frequency scanning receiver when multiple, eventually interfering, signals impinge on the receiving antennas. The proposed approach is compared with well-known lower bounds. Comparable results are yielded for well separated emitters in ideal conditions, whereas imperfect, realistic observation conditions clearly privilege the use of the newly proposed approach.