Patent ID: 8878726

Claim:
A system for locating an emitter within an area comprising: an unmanned air vehicle that traverses a pre-planned path through said area to obtain signal strength measurements at a plurality of locations within said area with a line of sight condition that reduces effects from signal fading and shadowing, wherein said unmanned air vehicle includes a receiver to receive signals transmitted by said emitter and obtain a series of measurements of signal strength for said received signals at each of said plurality of different locations within said area; and a processor to process said signal strength measurements to locate said emitter within said area, wherein said processor includes: a location module to process said signal strength measurements and select for each location the signal strength measurement with a maximum signal to noise ratio from the series of said signal strength measurements for that location, and determine a three-dimensional location of said emitter within said area based on relationships of distances between said emitter and each of said plurality of locations, wherein said distances are unknown, said selected signal strength measurements are proportional to said unknown distances, and said location module includes: a variable module to determine said three-dimensional location by solving a set of simultaneous equations relating to said distances, wherein said set of simultaneous equations includes a set of variables representing said unknown distances between said emitter and said plurality of locations, and unknown variables representing coordinates of said three-dimensional location of said emitter within said area, and wherein said set of variables representing said unknown distances within said set of simultaneous equations includes values that are approximated by corresponding selected signal strength measurements to solve for said unknown variables and determine said three-dimensional location.