A Review of Radio Frequency Based Localization for Aerial and Ground Robots with 5G Future Perspectives

TL;DR

This paper reviews RF-based localization techniques for UAVs and UGVs, emphasizing the potential of 5G NR to improve accuracy and reliability, and discusses future research directions in this field.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review of RF localization methods for unmanned vehicles and explores the future impact of 5G NR on localization accuracy.

Findings

RF features can be effectively utilized for localization

Range-based and fingerprinting methods are prominent approaches

5G NR has potential to significantly enhance localization performance

Abstract

Efficient localization plays a vital role in many modern applications of Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV) and Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which would contribute to improved control, safety, power economy, etc. The ubiquitous 5G NR (New Radio) cellular network will provide new opportunities for enhancing localization of UAVs and UGVs. In this paper, we review the radio frequency (RF) based approaches for localization. We review the RF features that can be utilized for localization and investigate the current methods suitable for Unmanned vehicles under two general categories: range-based and fingerprinting. The existing state-of-the-art literature on RF-based localization for both UAVs and UGVs is examined, and the envisioned 5G NR for localization enhancement, and the future research direction are explored.