Modeling the impact of node speed on the ranging estimation with UWB body area networks

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of the node speed on the ranging estimation for location applications with Wireless Body Area Networks (WBAN). While estimated with the 3-Way ranging protocol (3-WR), this distance between two nodes placed on the body can be affected by the human movements. Thus, we study theoretically the ranging error with the 3-WR, based on a perfect channel, a MAC layer based on TDMA using two scheduling strategies (Single node localization (P2P-B) and Aggregated & Broadcast (A&B)) and a PHY layer based on Ultra Wideband (IR-UWB). We demonstrate the accuracy of the model, and show that the distance error is highly correlated with the speed of nodes, while the associated mobility model has an impact on the design of MAC strategies by simulation.