Toward Standard Non-Line-of-Sight Benchmarking of Ultra-Wideband Radio-Based Localization

Abstract

Performance of Ultra-wideband (UWB) radios in non-line-of-sight (NLoS) environments has been a topic of interest among researchers, especially when it comes to indoor localization applications. It is known that NLoS propagation of electromagnetic waves can severely affect the localization accuracy. Despite the interest in indoor localization performance, it is still difficult to compare results from different studies without proper evaluation standards. Understanding the types of materials used in a testing environment could be a proper technique for benchmarking different localization solutions in different scenarios. We provide a systematic study to investigate effects of signal refraction and attenuation on UWB signals in different construction materials by examining the Channel Impulse Response (CIR) and ranging accuracy. Further, we present failure scenarios for common NLoS identification and mitigation techniques.