From C-Band to mmWave-Band: Ray-Tracing-Assisted 5G-Based Indoor Positioning in Industrial Scenario

TL;DR

This paper investigates indoor 5G positioning accuracy in industrial environments using ray-tracing simulations at C-band and mmWave frequencies, analyzing radio propagation and NLoS multipath effects.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed ray-tracing based analysis of radio environments at different frequencies for indoor industrial 5G positioning.

Findings

Higher positioning accuracy at mmWave-band due to fewer NLoS multipath effects

Detailed categorization of dominant multipath components in industrial scenarios

Comparison of C-band and mmWave-band for OTDoA-based positioning

Abstract

Private fifth-generation (5G) networks are increasingly becoming the industrys' choice of wireless communication networks for accelerating production processes. In this context, the role of 5G in providing precise positioning services in indoor industrial scenarios has also been actively discussed. However, the achievable indoor positioning accuracy depends on the radio propagation conditions persisting in the scenario. In this paper, using a Ray-Tracing (RT) engine, we investigate the radio environment in C-band (3.775 GHz) as well as the mmWave-band (26.85 GHz) for a detailed 3D geometric model of the dense clutter industrial production hall under different emulation setups and categorize the dominant Non-Line-of-Sight (NLoS) MultiPath Components (MPCs). We then evaluate the achievable Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDoA) based positioning accuracy in the C-band and the mmWave-band by computing the position of User Equipment (UE) using only first-arriving MPCs.