Optimization of receiver array with intuitive algorithms in transmitter localization using time difference of arrivals

The location of an electromagnetic, seismic, or acoustic source can be determined by synchronized receivers placed spatially apart from each other. Since the signal emitted from the source reaches the synchronized receivers at different times, the time difference of arrivals (TDOAs) arises. By using time differences formed on the receiving side, position lines are defined, and the source is positioned in the center of these position lines. The error in positioning with the TDOA depends on the transmitter-receiver geometry and the variance of the TDOA estimation error. Positioning performance is significantly improved when positioning is performed with a well-optimized receiver array for the same target coordinates and TDOA estimation error variance. In this master's thesis, receiver array direction angle optimization was performed with particle swarm optimization (PSO) and krill herd optimization (KHO). In the proposed method, the direction angle of the equiangular circular receiver array and the two-dimensional receiver array is optimized by taking the Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) as a fitness function in the KHO and PSO algorithms, and a significant reduction in square positioning error is achieved. In addition, KHO and PSO methods were compared with each other in terms of convergence speed and with CRLB in terms of positioning accuracy. KHO algorithm was used in for the first time in this master's thesis the optimization of the receiver array direction angle in position detection with TDOA.