Design of time difference of arrival estimation system based on fast cross correlation

A time difference of arrival (TDOA) estimation system based on fast cross correlation is introduced in this paper. The system takes ADS8365, FPGA and DSP as the core devices to implement multichannel synchronous data acquisition and real time data processing. Comparison between cross correlation and fast cross correlation in aspects of the principle and time complexity is also discussed. Experimental results show that the performance of fast cross correlation is 4 times and 13 times better than cross correlation in simulation and actual hardware test, respectively. Finally, performance of time difference of arrival estimation is given which meets the requirements.