Synchronization, TOA and position estimation for low-complexity LDR UWB devices

The paper provides an evaluation of a non-coherent UWB system, which is suitable for low complexity, cost and data rate UWB wireless sensor networks with positioning capability. Synchronization and time of arrival (TOA) estimation is performed using a non-coherent energy collection method. Coarse and fine synchronization are performed to identify the energy clusters and refine the energy collection window respectively. The effect of the integration window size is evaluated for both TOA estimation and position estimation. Direct method (DM) and Davidon-Fletcher-Powell (DFP) algorithms are implemented for position estimation. The result shows the possibility of attaining sub-meter performance using a low complexity and cost device.