A Study of Indoor Positioning Based on UWB Base-Station Configurations

Indoor positioning has become an important topic for the researchers in science and business with the growing need of position acquisition for the public in indoor environment. Given the rise of wireless communication applications nowadays, many wireless positioning methods have been under tests for indoor positioning. UWB is specifically promising in complicated indoor environments because of its high resolution, better penetrating and resistance of interference. In this paper, we studied the effects of base-station configurations on indoor positioning accuracy via UWB. The majority of work in this paper is simulated by the CST software. We ran simulation for 6-10 GHz in the UWB with 4 types of base station configuration (eight BSs, cuboid shape: four BSs, Y shape: four BSs and L shape: 3 BSs). Specific positioning application methods are based on estimations of TOA. Two methods are exploited in this paper for TOA estimation. One is based on the waveforms of signals transmitted and received, and another is through CIR peak detector. Both methods have produced acceptable results. Our positioning accuracy was within 1-4 cm, and GDOP was then used for testing the rationality of the configurations engaged.