On the impact of ranging-error models for simulating indoors location systems

Wireless networks have boosted the interest of users and network operators on location due to the possible synergies between the cellular layout and location techniques. As a result, location methods have been proposed to provide this information in most wireless technologies. Evaluation of the performance of these and further techniques is initially achieved by means of simulation. It is essential to use suitable models for featuring errors that are present in observations. This characterization is especially relevant in time-based techniques such as time-of-arrival (TOA) and time-difference-of-arrival (TDOA). These techniques are significantly impacted by non-line-of-sight conditions; hence their performance is usually evaluated under these conditions. This article compares several ranging-error models adapted to indoors and studies their impact on the performance of time-based techniques (e.g., TOA and TDOA). Results indicate that simple models that are not based on the actual distance between nodes tend to underestimate the positioning error with respect to more complex models.