Joint communication, ranging, and positioning in low data-rate UWB networks

This work illustrates a possible solution for joint communication, rang- ing, and positioning for application in UWB sensor networks. The proposed sys- tem is based on the adoption of a specifically designed low data-rate (LDR) UWB- tailored MAC, named Uncoordinated, Wireless, Baseborn medium access for UWB communication networks (UWB) 2 , that performs ranging based on the exchange of control packets. The ranging information provided by the MAC is the input to a distributed positioning protocol. Performance was evaluated by simulation and measured as the percentage of positioned terminals as well as the percentage of positioning error, for varying network connectivity and ranging accuracy. Results show that the excellent ranging accuracy provided by UWB is an indispensable feature for applications requiring highly accurate positioning. Results also show that good network connectivity is an additional mandatory condition for designing robust location-aware protocols.

[1]  J. Barney,et al.  Commercialization of an ultra wideband precision asset location system , 2003, IEEE Conference on Ultra Wideband Systems and Technologies, 2003.

[2]  Dipankar Raychaudhuri,et al.  Performance Analysis of Random Access Packet-Switched Code Division Multiple Access Systems , 1981, IEEE Trans. Commun..

[3]  John A. Silvester,et al.  Spreading code protocols for distributed spread-spectrum packet radio networks , 1988, IEEE Trans. Commun..

[4]  Robert A. Scholtz,et al.  Ranging in a dense multipath environment using an UWB radio link , 2002, IEEE J. Sel. Areas Commun..

[5]  Srdjan Capkun,et al.  GPS-free Positioning in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks , 2001, Proceedings of the 34th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[6]  Luca De Nardis,et al.  (UWB)2: Uncoordinated, Wireless, Baseborn Medium Access for UWB Communication Networks , 2005, Mob. Networks Appl..

[7]  J.J. Garcia-Luna-Aceves,et al.  Distributed assignment of codes for multihop packet-radio networks , 1997, MILCOM 97 MILCOM 97 Proceedings.

[8]  Guerino Giancola,et al.  Understanding Ultra Wide Band Radio Fundamentals , 2004 .

[9]  B. R. Vojcic,et al.  Performance analysis of multi-code spread slotted ALOHA (MCSSA) system , 1998, IEEE GLOBECOM 1998 (Cat. NO. 98CH36250).

[10]  P. Baldi,et al.  UWB ad-hoc networks , 2002, 2002 IEEE Conference on Ultra Wideband Systems and Technologies (IEEE Cat. No.02EX580).

[11]  H. Urkowitz.  Signal Theory and Random Processes , 1983 .

[12]  David A. Maltz,et al.  Dynamic Source Routing in Ad Hoc Wireless Networks , 1994, Mobidata.