Time-Delay Estimation in the Multi-Path Channel based on Maximum Likelihood Criterion

Shengdong Xie
2012 KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems  
To locate an object accurately in the wireless sensor networks, the distance measure based on time-delay plays an important role. In this paper, we propose a maximum likelihood (ML) time-delay estimation algorithm in multi-path wireless propagation channel. We get the joint probability density function after sampling the frequency domain response of the multi-path channel, which could be obtained by the vector network analyzer. Based on the ML criterion, the time-delay values of different paths
more » ... are estimated. Considering the ML function is non-linear with respect to the multi-path time-delays, we first obtain the coarse values of different paths using the subspace fitting algorithm, then take them as an initial point, and finally get the ML time-delay estimation values with the pattern searching optimization method. The simulation results show that although the ML estimation variance could not reach the Cramer-Rao lower bounds (CRLB), its performance is superior to that of subspace fitting algorithm, and could be seen as a fine algorithm.
doi:10.3837/tiis.2012.04.006 fatcat:x4uc7mfalrhpbfqao2xe2cpda4