La transmission radioélectrique à longue distance dans la bande HF permet de couvrir de vastes zones géographiques à l’aide d’infrastructures légères et mobiles. Elle est donc bien adaptée pour établir des communications lors d’opérations militaires ou pour le déploiement rapide d'un réseau de communication agile lors d'opérations humanitaires. Dans ce contexte, il est important de pouvoir localiser les émetteurs inconnus par l’analyse des signaux électromagnétiques de communication. L’objectif de la thèse est de développer une technique de géolocalisation alternative et complémentaire, intitulée Time Difference of Arrival (TDoA), qui a rarement été étudiée dans le cas de la propagation ionosphérique. Dans un premier temps, l'algorithme de géolocalisation HF basé sur la technique TDoA est adapté et optimisé par des simulations paramétriques. Les résultats de simulation montrent que l'augmentation du nombre de récepteurs entraîne une amélioration significative de la précision de géolocalisation. Afin d'étudier la faisabilité de mise en oeuvre d'un système de géolocalisation HF basé sur la technique TDoA, plusieurs récepteurs HF pilotable à distance ont été développés à partir de modules de radio logicielle, et un réseau national de récepteurs a été déployé en France. Un concept original de sondage de canal croisé est proposé et décrit mathématiquement. Il permet d’évaluer les différences de durée de propagation entre les signaux reçus sur deux récepteurs synchronisés distincts. Les résultats expérimentaux collectés montrent qu'il est possible de localiser les émetteurs HF dans des conditions favorables avec une erreur de géolocalisation relative comprise entre 0,1 et 10% de la distance réelle au sol. Les données collectées lors de la campagne de mesure sont analysées de manière statistique afin d’évaluer la performance de l'algorithme de géolocalisation et de définir les paramètres les plus pertinents à prendre en compte pour déployer cette technique dans une approche opérationnelle. / Long-range radio transmission in the HF band can cover large geographical areas using light and mobile equipment. It is therefore well suited for communications during military operations orfor the rapid deployment of an agile communication network during humanitarian operations. In this context, it is important to determine the geographic location of the transmitters by analyzing the electromagnetic communication signals. The aim of the thesis is to develop an alternative, complementary geolocation technique, entitled Time Difference of Arrival (TDoA) that has rarely been studied in the case of ionospheric propagation. As a first step, HF geolocation algorithm based on TDoA is setup and analyzed by parametric software simulations. Simulation results demonstrate that increasing the number of receivers leads to a significant improvement in the geolocation accuracy. In order to study the feasibility of a practical HF geolocation system based on TDoA, multiple remotely controllable HF receivers are designed using software defined radio (SDR) modules and a country wide operational receiver network is deployed in France. A concept of cross-channel sounding along with its mathematical description is proposed to evaluate the propagation duration differences between the signals captured by two distinct receivers. Preliminary experimental results show that it is possible to locate the HF transmitters under favorable conditions with a relative geolocation error ranging from about 0.1 to 10% of the actual ground distance. Data captured during the large scale measurement campaign are analyzed statistically to evaluate the performance of the geolocation algorithm and define parameters that could be considered in an operational approach.

In this thesis, the problem of Angle of Arrival estimation of radar signals with Time Difference of Arrival method in an outdoor land multipath environment with limited line of sight is analyzed. A system model is proposed. Effects of system, channel and radar parameters on the Angle of Arrival estimation performance are investigated through Monte Carlo simulations. Improving effect of utilization of diversity on the estimation performance is observed. Performances of the space diversity with noncoherent and selective combining are compared. Finally a realistic scenario is studied and performance of the proposed system is investigated.

In this thesis, the passive localization problem is studied. Robust and recursive solutions are presented by the use of Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA). The TDOA measurements are assumed to be gathered by moving sensors which makes the number of the sensors increase synthetically. First of all, a location estimator should be capable of processing the new measurements without omitting the past data. This task can be accomplished by updating the estimate recursively whenever new measurements are available. Convenient forms of the recursive filters, such as the Kalman filter, the Extended Kalman filter etc., can be applied. Recursive filter can be divided to two major groups: (a) The first type of recursive estimators process the TDOA measurements directly, and (b) the second type of the recursive estimators is the post processing estimators which process the TDOA indirectly, instead they fuse or smooth available location estimates. In this sense, recursive passive localization methods are presented for both types. In practice, issues like being spatially distant from each other and/or a radar with a rotating narrow beam may prevent the sensors to receive the same pulse. In such a case, the sensors can not construct common TDOA measurements which means that they can not accomplish the location estimation procedure. Additionally, there may be more than one sensor group making TDOA measurements. An estimator should be capable of fusing the measurements from different sensor groups. A sensor group consists of sensors which are able to receive the same pulse. In this work, solutions of these tasks are also given. Performances of the presented methods are compared by simulation studies. The method having the best performance, which is based on the Kalman Filter, is also capable of estimating the track of a moving emitter by directly processing the TDOA measurements.

This thesis investigates the possibilities of implementing a location awareness mechanism for the so-called lesswire localNavigator. The author claims that it is possible to implement such a mechanism within the given prerequisites and constraints, even though with today’s technology it may not be economically feasible. Due to the lesswire’s constraints: high accuracy (67%), high-resolution (12 m2) and no hardware modification allowed to the mobile device, the suggested scheme uses Time Difference Of Arrival technology (TDOA). The main advantage of TDOA, as stated in this thesis, is the fact that it is almost totally independent of the preferred wireless technology of the mobile device. TDOA technology therefore, can be applied to a wide range of wireless networks (primarily TDMA, CDMA, FDMA – based). A disadvantage of this scheme is the fact that the network infrastructure needs to be extremely well synchronized - which in turn implies higher costs. Depending on how the synchronization problem is solved, the proposed system may well be economically feasible in the near future.

Under det senaste decenniet har inomhuspositionering fått en ökad popularitet och stått i fokus för forskning och utveckling, eftersom det ger praktiska möjligheter till att spåra och navigera objekt och människor i inomhusmiljöer. Det finns ingen global lösning för inomhuspositionering baserat på en enstaka teknologi såsom det gör för utomhuspositionering med sin satellitbaserade globala positioneringssystem. Många inomhusteknologier står inför många utmaningar såsom låg positioneringsnoggrannhet samt dyr och stor hårdvara. Den här uppsatsen beskriver hur en simpel och kostnadseffektiv lösning, som addresserar problemen med noggrannheten och hårdvarukostnaden, genom en iterativ forskningsmetod, utvecklades. Vår lösning är ett ultraljudsbaserat passivt sändare-mottagare system som kombinerar multilateration som positioneringsteknik och tidsskillnad av ankomst (TDOA) som mätprincip för att beräkna en 3D-position inuti en 4x2x2 m testyta med en övergripande noggrannhet på 16 cm inom ett 95% konfidensintervall. Vi registrerade noggranna TDOA-värden med en komparatorkrets som fungerade som en amplitud-trigger. Det här tillvägagångssättet var mycket enklare än vad andra relaterade arbeten använde sig av, vilket var sampling för att bearbeta inkommande signaler från sändarna. / During the past decade, indoor positioning has gained more popularity and has become a focus of research and development as it provides practical possibilities to track and navigate objects and people in indoor environments. There is no overall solution for indoor positioning based on a single technology like the solution for outdoor positioning with its satellite-based global positioning system. Many indoor positioning technologies today face many challenges such as low positioning accuracy, expensive and large hardware. This thesis describes how a simple and cost-effective solution, that addresses the problem of accuracy and space cost with regards to hardware being used, was developed through an iterative research methodology. Our solution is an ultrasound-based passive receiver-transmitter system that combines multilateration as a positioning technique and time difference of arrival (TDOA) as a measuring principle. This combination is used to calculate a 3D position within a 4x2x2 m test area with an overall accuracy of 16 cm within a 95% confidence interval. We registered accurate TDOA values with a comparator circuit that acts as an amplitude trigger. This approach was much more simple than that of other related works which used sampling to process incoming signals from the transmitters.

Power transformers are one of the most important components in the electrical energy network. Extending transformer life is very economically valuable due to power outage. Therefore the development of instruments to monitor the transformer condition is of great interest. Detection of partial discharges (PDs) in power transformers is an effective diagnostic because it may reveal and quantify an important aging factor and provide information on the condition of the transformer. However, partial discharge diagnostics are still not effectively used for online monitoring of transformers because of the complexity of PD measurements and difficulties of discriminating of PDs and other noise sources. This thesis presents a further study of detection and location of partial discharges in power transformers based on previous work conducted at the Center for Photonics Technology (CPT) at Virginia Tech. The detection and positioning system consists of multiple extrinsic Fabry-Parot interferometric (EFPI) fiber acoustic sensors which can survive the harsh environment of oil-filled transformers. This thesis work is focused on optimal arrangement of multiple sensors to monitor and locate PD activities in a power transformer. This includes the following aspects. First, the sensor design requirements are discussed in order to successfully detect and accurately position the PD sources. In the following sections, Finite Element Method (FEM) is used to model the EFPI sensor fabricated at CPT. Experiments were conducted to measure the angular dependence of the frequency response of the sensor. It is shown that within the range of ±45º incident angles, the sensitivity varies by 3-5dB. Finally, the thesis demonstrates a PD positioning experiment in a 500 gallon water tank (R à H = 74" à 30" cylinder) using a hyperbolic positioning algorithm and time difference of arrival (TDOA). Finally we demonstrated that 100% of the positioning data is bounded by a 22.7à 4.1à 5.3 mm₃ cube, with a sensing range of 810 mm using the leading edge method with FIR filtering. / Master of Science

A partial discharge (PD) is the dissipation of energy caused by the buildup of localized electric field intensity. In high voltage devices such as transformers, this buildup of charge and its release can be symptomatic of problems associated with aging, such as floating components and insulation breakdown. This is why PD detection is used in power systems to monitor the state of health of high voltage transformers. If such problems are not detected and repaired, the strength and frequency of PDs increases and eventually leads to the catastrophic failure of the transformer, which can cause external equipment damage, fires and loss of revenue due to an unscheduled outage. Reliable online PD detection is a critical need for power companies to improve personnel safety and decrease the potential for loss of service. The PD phenomenon is manifested in a variety of physically observable signals including electric and acoustic pulses and is currently detected using a host of exterior measurement techniques. These techniques include electrical lead tapping and piezoelectric transducer (PZT) based acoustic detection. Many modern systems use a combination of these techniques because electrical detection is an older and proven technology and acoustic detection allows for the source to be located when several sensors are mounted to the exterior of the tank. However, if an acoustic sensor could be placed inside the tank, not only would acoustic detection be easier due to the increased signal amplitude and elimination of multipath interference, but positioning could also be performed with more accuracy in a shorter time. This thesis presents a fiber optic acoustic sensing system design that can be used to detect and locate PD sources within a high voltage transformer. The system is based on an optical acoustic (OA) sensor that is capable of surviving the harsh environment of the transformer interior while not compromising the transformer's functionality, which allows for online detection and positioning. This thesis presents the theoretical functionality and experimental validation of a band-limited OA sensor with a usable range of 100-300 kHz, which is consistent with the frequency content of an acoustic pulse caused by a PD event. It also presents a positioning system using the time difference of arrival (TDOA) of the acoustic pulse with respect to four sensors that is capable of reporting the three-dimensional position of a PD to within ±5cm on any axis. / Master of Science

The angular location of an acoustic source can be estimated by measuring an acoustic direction of incidence based solely on the noise produced by the source. Methods for determining the direction of incidence based on sound intensity, the phase of cross-spectral functions, and cross-correlation functions are available. In this current work, we implement Dominant Frequency SElection (DFSE) algorithm. Direction of arrival (DOA) estimation usingmicrophone arrays is to use the phase information present in signals from microphones that are spatially separated. DFSE uses the phase difference between the Fourier transformedsignals to estimate the direction ofarrival (DOA)and is implemented using a three-element ’L’ shaped microphone array, linear microphone array, and planar 16-microphone array. This method is based on simply locating the maximum amplitude from each of the Fourier transformed signals and thereby deriving the source location by solving the set of non-linear least squares equations. For any pair of microphones, the surface on whichthe time difference ofarrival (TDOA) is constant is a hyperboloidoftwo sheets. Acoustic source localization algorithms typically exploit this fact by grouping all microphones into pairs, estimating the TDOA of each pair, then finding the point where all associated hyperboloids most nearly intersect. We make use of both closed-form solutions and iterative techniques to solve for the source location.Acoustic source positioned in 2-dimensional plane and 3-dimensional space have been successfully located.

Autant le GPS tend à s'imposer pour la localisation à l'extérieur des bâtiments, autant la situation est beaucoup plus ouverte pour la localisation à l'intérieur des bâtiments. De nombreux réseaux WiFi sont déployés dans les bâtiments. Ils diffusent des informations de puissance du signal permettant de remonter à la position d'un mobile. La technique du fingerprinting par puissance WiFi permet de localiser le mobile. Cependant, l'utilisation de cette technique de localisation requière une base de données correspondant à la couverture radio WiFi dans l'environnement.<br />L'utilisation d'une technique de localisation basée sur des mesures temporelles est moins contraignante que le fingerprinting. L'émission d'impulsions radio très brèves confère à la technologie 802.15.4a un fort pouvoir séparateur des multi-trajets. Le phénomène de multi-trajets est la principale contrainte au déploiement d'une technologie de localisation par mesures temporelles. La détection du premier trajet est très importante.<br />Des estimateurs comme le filtre de Kalman ou le filtre particulaire sont nécessaires pour limiter les effets des multi-trajets, des bruits de mesure, etc. Ces filtres peuvent aussi intégrer des informations de cartographie. Bien souvent, l'exploitation d'une seule technologie est insuffisante. La fusion d'informations de localisation est une étape supplémentaire pour améliorer la localisation. Des architectures de fusion robustes permettent de corriger les défauts de chacune des technologies pour conduire à un système plus robuste et plus précis en toutes circonstances.<br />Ce travail présente une approche innovante pour la localisation WiFi avec l'exploitation de cartographie dans l'estimateur tout en gardant une faible complexité suivant la plate-forme de déploiement visée. L'exploration des capacités de la localisation par ULB est proposée dans un second temps, avant d'aborder une réflexion sur les méthodes de fusion multi-capteurs.

Le but de cette thèse est l'étude et la mise en oeuvre d'un système de localisation sous-marine compact et simple à mettre en place pour une utilisation en zones portuaires, côtières et environnements peu profonds. Nous proposons un système SBL (Small Distance Baseline) avec un nombre réduit de transducteurs (une balise d'émission et deux hydrophones). La configuration géométrique du système étant contraignante (hydrophones proches) la précision du positionnement obtenue par les méthodes classiques est faible. Nous proposons une nouvelle méthode de localisation améliorant la précision. La balise à localiser émet un signal à étalement de spectre. La différence de distance entre les trajets des signaux des hydrophones est mesurée par corrélation. Nous proposons deux boucles de poursuites pour l'estimation conjointe de la fréquence Doppler et du délai entre les signaux reçus. Ces techniques de poursuite basées sur un filtre de Kalman sont implémentées en boucle fermée et ouverte. Les observations TDOA (Time Difference Of Arrival) conduisent à utiliser une technique de localisation hyperbolique. Nous proposons une représentation statistique qui exploite la géométrie de notre système de mesure pour déterminer une zone de localisation probable autour de chaque hyperbole. En utilisant des positions de bateau successives, on construit une densité de probabilité dont le maximum définit la position de la balise. On montre sur données synthétiquesque pour un bruit de mesure réaliste, il est possible de déterminer la position de la balise avec une précision submétrique. Les expérimentations réelles confirment la faisabilité du système et la précision obtenue est dans ce cas métrique. / The purpose of that thesis work is the research and implementation of a compact and simple underwater localization system that aim to be used in ports, coastal areas and other low-depth environments. Our system is SBL (Small Distance Baseline), with a small number of transceivers (only one emitter and two hydrophones). Due to the system's geometric configuration not being optimal (both hydrophones are close to one another), the precision obtained using classical approaches is poor. We therefore propose a new localization approach that will improve it. The emitter we wish to localize emit a spread spectrum signal. The time difference of arrival (TDOA) between the two hydrophones is then determined using correlations methods. We propose in our work two tracking loops that will estimate both the delay and the doppler frequency between the signals. Using a Kalman filter , those methods are implemented respectively in open and close loop. From each TDOA measurement, we can calculatea hyperbolic area of possible emitter location. We thus use a statistical model which takes into account the local geometry of our measurements system in order to create a probable localization area around each hyperbole. By using the measurements at several different boat positions, we create a probability density whose maximum will be centered around the emitter's position. We show that, on simulated data, it is possible to localize the beacon with a precision beneath a meter with a realistic noise level. Experimental work and real data collection confirm that the method can in that context achieve the same result with a precision of a few meters.