On the Dilution of Precision for Time Difference of Arrival with Station Deployment

TL;DR

This paper investigates how anchor deployment affects the accuracy of TDoA-based tracking, revealing optimal configurations for linear and nonlinear estimators to improve localization precision in UWB systems.

Contribution

It analyzes the impact of anchor placement on DoP for TDoA algorithms, providing deployment guidelines for enhanced tracking accuracy in UWB systems.

Findings

Linear estimator achieves lower DoP with anchors scattered around a central point.

Nonlinear estimator has optimal DoP when anchors are scattered around the target.

Experiments confirm the influence of anchor deployment on localization precision.

Abstract

The paper aims to reveal the relationship between the performance of moving object tracking algorithms and the tracking anchors (station) deployment. The Dilution of Precision (DoP) for Time difference of arrival (TDoA) technique with respect to anchor deployment is studied. Linear estimator and non-linear estimator are used for TDoA algorithms. The research findings are: for the linear estimator, the DoP attain a lower value when other anchors are scattered around a central anchor; for the nonlinear estimator, the DoP is optimal when the anchors are scattered around the target tag. Experiments on both of the algorithms are conducted, targeting the location precision related to the anchors' deployment, with practical situations for tracking moving objects integrated with a Kalman Filter (KF) in an Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) based real-time localization system. The work provides a guideline for deploying anchors in UWB-based tracking systems.