The invention discloses an ionospheric-reflection-based
time difference of arrival positioning method for a
shortwave radiation source, and belongs to the technical field of shortwave communication. The method comprises the following steps of selecting corresponding receiving sites to acquire found and monitored target signals; locally compressing the target signals, and transmitting the target signals to a master
server; estimating propagation channels of the signals received by each receiving site, performing joint positioning error
estimation in combination with each
time difference of arrival, optimizing a positioning result according to the geographic position distribution of each receiving site and the variation amplitude of ionospheric parameters and the time differences of arrival, and giving a positioning error. According to the method, a conventional shortwave receiving antenna can be utilized, a large direction-finding
antenna array is not required, the reflection influence of an ionospheric layer on shortwave
sky wave signals is taken into full account, and the time differences of arrival of the signals at different receiving sites through different paths are used for positioning the
shortwave radiation source; the method is disclosed according to actual needs, is particularly applied to regions where large antenna arrays cannot be erected, and is practically significant, and manpower and funds can be greatly saved.