Abstract:

 novel class of ultrawideband (UWB) positioning scheme based on antenna array is proposed. Four antenna arrays are settled at the tip of the positioning source to receive the UWB signal from an unknown node. One positioning source is enough for 3D localization. The positioning information is obtained from time difference of arrival (TDOA) estimation through UWB multipath detection. Due to the design of avoiding the time synchronization for TOA and the beamforming technique for angle of arrival (AOA), the hardware complexity is reduced in the proposed positioning system. Simultaneously, a UWB multipath detection algorithm for TDOA estimation is presented. The positioning performance under the effect of the multipath error and NLOS error is discussed. In addition, the positioning performance of the proposed scheme is tested under IEEE 802.15.4a channels. The result demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed scheme, and the centimeterlevel positioning precision is obtained.