UWB-Based Localization in Wireless Sensor Networks

Localization has many important applications in wireless sensor networks, such as object searching and tracking, remote navigation, location based routing etc. The distance measurements have been based on a variety of technologies, such as acoustic, infrared, and UWB (ultra-wide band) media for localization purposes. In this paper, we propose UWB-based communication protocols for distance estimation and location calculation, namely a new UWB coding method, called U-BOTH (UWB based on Orthogonal Variable Spreading Factor and Time Hopping), an ALOHA-type channel access method and a message exchange protocol to collect location information. U-BOTH is based on IEEE 802.15.4a that was designed for WPANs (wireless personal area networks) using the UWB technology. We place our system in coal mine environments, and derive the corresponding UWB path loss model in order to apply the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) method to compute the distances to the reference sensors using the RSSI information, and to estimate the coordinate of the moving sensor using least squares (LS) method. The performance of the system is validated using theoretic analysis and simulations. Results show that U-BOTH transmission technique can effectively reduce the bit error rate under the path loss model, and the corresponding ranging and localization algorithms can accurately compute moving object locations in coal mine environments.