Patent ID: 8193987

Claim:
In a geolocation system for determining a geolocation of a target emitter, a method for determining the geolocation comprising: receiving a signal transmitted from the target emitter at each one of a plurality of sensors; determining whether signals received at n sensors, from among the plurality of sensors, have a signal parameter that satisfies an associated threshold values, wherein the signal parameter comprises one or more of a signal amplitude, a signal bandwidth, a signal-to-noise ratio and a stare period, the associated threshold value selected to minimize a lower bound of a variance estimate according to a Cramer Rao equation; if signals received at n sensors satisfy the threshold value, commanding m of the n sensors to transmit one or both of the signal received thereat or information related to the signal received thereat to a processor; at the processor, determining time difference estimates for the m received signals; and determining the geolocation of the target emitter from the time difference estimates.