Fang-Based 3D TDOA Localization Method for Large-Scale UAV Cluster

The need for quick 3-dimensional (3D) positioning technology is growing as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology advances. This work proposes a 3D Fang-based time difference of arrival (TDOA) localization technique for large-scale UAV clusters. This method splits the UAVs into multiple small groups for positioning and uses 4 anchor points to obtain a system of equations. Unlike existing algorithms, this algorithm obtains the analytical solution of the system of equations directly in constant time by substituting variables instead of numerical solutions to position the target. Compared to existing methods, the proposed method has a significant advantage in the trade-off between positioning accuracy and computational complexity. Simulation results show that the proposed method outperforms existing 3D TDOA-based positioning schemes in the performance of computing time and localizing accuracy.