RSS based localization of an emitter using a single mini UAV

Abstract

In this study, it is aimed to find the position of a signal emitter by the means of a mini unmanned aerial vehicle (mUAV) with a sensor node that can record the received signal strength (RSS) and the global positioning system (GPS) data. The RSS and GPS data are instantaneously transferred to the central node in order to establish a real-time positioning and tracking system. A cumulative maximum likelihood solution has been proposed to best estimate the location of the emitter. By the means of the experiments using the real data, the localization system performance is shown to be in line with Cramer Rao Lower Bound (CRLB).