Time-difference-of-arrival estimation algorithms for cyclostationary signals in impulsive noise

In this paper, new signal-selective methods for the estimation of time-difference-of-arrival in the presence of interfering signals and non-Gaussian symmetric alpha-stable impulsive noise are introduced. First, the performance degradation of the conventional approaches based on second-order cyclic statistics is presented. Then, two new classes of robust algorithms are developed using the theory of stable distributions and the cyclostationary property, including the pth-order cyclostationarity methods and the fractional lower-order cyclostationarity methods. It is shown that these new methods are tolerant to interference and robust in both Gaussian and non-Gaussian impulsive noise environments. The improved performance is demonstrated through detailed theoretical analysis and simulations. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.