A Robust ToA and Pulse Width Estimator for Electronic Warfare Applications

We propose a robust Time of Arrival (ToA) and Pulse Width (PW) estimator for Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) and Electronic Support Measures (ESM) systems in Electronic Warfare (EW) applications. Robust ToA and PW measurements of the intercepted radar pulse are assets in EW algorithms and are worthy to be pursued. The proposed estimation method is based on Autoconvolution (AC) and Model Change Detection (MCD) theory. Computer simulations show the superior performance of the proposed method in the presence of AWGN and spurious signals when compared to a Histogram and Mean-Based Threshold methods and a Autoconvolutional method. A comparison of the methods with a recorded radar pulse confirms the robustness of the proposed method in a real scenario.