An application of generalized least squares bias estimation for over-the-horizon radar coordinate registration

Target and sensor geometry for a particular suite of over-the-horizon radars and a single target are given. Systematic positional differences between tracks seen from two separate radar sites can be used to improve the estimation of ionospheric parameters. In this paper a description of over-the-horizon radar propagation is provided and a method, given the target/sensor geometry, is described for estimating the range and azimuth biases resulting from errors in modeling the ionospheric fluctuations. Using the Generalized Least Squares Estimation method, a quantitative analysis of the improvements in tracking target positions in regions of overlapping coverage is given.