A Review of Linear Multilateration Techniques and Applications

In multilateration, distances between an unknown location and several known points are used to determine the location of the unknown point. Papers on algorithms for multilateration, such as time of arrival (TOA), time difference of arrival (TDOA), and angle of arrival (AOA), have proliferated in the literature. These use the same equations, but are often written in a way that hides the underlying geometry and make it difficult to see the similarity in approaches between different papers. This paper provides a review of TOA and AOA-based localization approaches, with a focus on linear positioning algorithms. This paper presents simple and consistent versions of TOA, TDOA, and AOA position equations with intuitive explanations for how those equations relate to the geometry of the localization problem. This perspective can make it easier to implement these algorithms in a way that produces stable results and provides insight into the underlying geometric problem. We also review the literature relating to TDOA and AOA localization algorithms and multistatic radar.