TLE Calculator Tool Validation

The Warfighter uses a wide array of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) sensors to detect targets and estimate a target's location. Target Location Error (TLE) is the metric used to assess and compare a sensors capability to estimate a target location. The Transformation Decision Analysis Center (TDAC) needs to estimate the TLE for multiple sensor types including Electro-optical/Infrared (EO/IR) sensors with Laser Range Finders (LRF), Laser Warning Receivers (LW R) measuring direct or side scatter radiation, and/or Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) sensors. SIGINT sensors estimate location using multiple techniques that include Angle of Arrival ( AoA), Time Difference of Arrival ( TDoA), and Frequency Difference of Arrival (FDoA). TDAC developed a TLE Calculator tool that can be used to estimate the TLE for almost any sensor type or collection of sensors that can perform PNT type functions. The calculator tool can easily be expanded to estimate the performance of other sensors even if the exact location algorithms of a sensor are unknown to the analyst. This estimate is calculated by using the statistics of the error for multiple variables. Separate from the TLE Calculator tool, TDAC created a testbed that uses actual SIGINT sensors to find the location of various RF sources in a simulated environment. This testbed produces actual test data that can be used to validate the TLE Calculator tool along with enabling a model-test-model capability. This presentation will contain an overview of the TLE calculator tool, an overview of the signal collection testbed and a results comparison of values produced using the TLE calculator and the collected TLE testbed data based on a TDoA methodology.