Multipath time difference of arrival estimation algorithms under alpha-stable noise

For the problem of time difference of arrival (TDOA) estimation for multipath signals, the performance of traditional estimation maximization (EM) and weighted Fourier transform (WR) algorithms degrade severely under non-Gaussian α-stable distribution impulsive noise. In order to improve the robustness of the two methods and provide accurate TDOA estimates, we proposed two improved algorithms generalized fraction low-order EM and generalized fraction low-order WR based on fractional lower order moments (FLOM). Compared with conventional EM and WR algorithms, the new algorithms make better use of the fractional lower-order statistics, are robust to the non-Gaussian α-stable distribution impulsive noise. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithms can provide more accurate estimates of multipath TDOA under Gaussian noise and non-Gaussian α-stable distribution impulsive noise.