An Ultra-wideband Spatial Filter for Time-of-arrival Localization in Tunnels

• Main Author: Jones, Natalie
• Other Authors: Hum, Sean Victor
• Language: en_ca
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: Ultra-wideband; Localization; Time-of-arrival; Tunnel; 0544
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/35613

An ultra-wideband (UWB) spatial filter is proposed to mitigate multipath effects in a one-way, one-dimensional time-of-arrival (TOA) localization system for use inside a tunnel. The spatial filter is a weighted array of judiciously placed antennas and it exploits the fact that electromagnetic waves propagate as modes in a tunnel by selectively extracting these mode(s). The design of several spatial filters is presented alongside vigorous analyses to characterize the localization performance afforded by them in a noisy environment. The filters are evaluated using data from an analytical equation waveguide model, a ray tracer model and measurements. These spatial filters deliver accurate localization estimates across distance and well-designed filters can operate at higher SNRs and further distances than single sensors. Insights into successful spatial filter design are provided and this spatial filtering technique has created a new branch of multipath-aware localization systems.