Work

A Two-Stage Framework for Sensor Selection and Geolocation for eVTOL Emergency Localization Using HF Skywaves

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: High-Frequency (HF) geolocation is crucial for emergency search and rescue operations and for re-geolocation of missing targets. This paper proposes a two-stage (Receiver selection then geolocation with Random Spatial Spectrum (RSS)) framework with HF skywave propagation as the main link, which is suitable for scenarios where the electric Vertical Take-off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft loses contact, crashes, or has communication interruption after a malfunction. First, stage A employs two receiver selection paths. One is selection with unknown biases, which combines geometric observability to determine receiver selection. The other is selection with bias priors, which introduces non-line-of-sight bias priors and robust weighting to improve availability. Secondly, stage B constructs RSS-based geolocation using grid objective function matching to alleviate the sensitivity of explicit time difference estimation to noise and model mismatch, thereby maintaining robustness under non-line-of-sight (NLOS) conditions. Finally, simulation and actual measurements demonstrate that the "select first, geolocation later" approach achieves superior overall performance compared to direct geolocation without receiver selection. This study provides a methodological basis and initial field evidence for HF skywave-based emergency eVTOL geolocation.

Source: Sensors

DOI: 10.3390/s25247534

Authors: Xijun Liu, Houlong Ai, Chen Xu, Zelin Chen, Zhaoyang Li

Institution: Civil Aviation Flight University of China

Language: English

Topic: Indoor and Outdoor Localization Technologies

Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,137