An experimental model for UWB distance measurements and its application to localization problems

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to analyze the impact of an accurate statistical model for distance estimation on the localization accuracy of practical Ultra Wide Band (UWB) systems. Our experimental investigation is based on the use of a particular type of UWB sensors, namely the PulsON 410 Ranging and Communications Modules (P410 RCMs) produced by Time Domain. First, we derive a statistical model for distance estimate between pairs of UWB sensors, finding a (linear) relation between the inter-modules distance and the average distance error. Similarly, a (linear) approximation for the standard deviation of the distance error is derived. Finally, we consider four P410 RCMs: assuming to know the positions of three of them, the position of the remaining one is estimated relying on distance measurements between pairs of them. Our results show that the localization accuracy is improved taking into account the statistical model for the distance estimate derived in the first part of the paper.