Summary

The principal research goal of this project was to provide a foundation for the indoor geolocation science needed in the design and performance evaluation of indoor geolocation systems.

Two specific research objectives in this project were:

• To analyze the multipath characteristics of the indoor radio propagation that affect the performance of indoor geolocation systems through empirical broadband measurements in typical sites, and design of statistical measurement-based and geometrical models for the behavior of the channel.
• To use the results of objective 1 to lay a foundation for the design and performance evaluation of distributed indoor geolocation systems capable of locating objects in smart indoor spaces where numerous unreliable sources interact to provide an accurate location of each element.

For the first objective indoor channel measurements of the TOA of the first path at GHz frequencies were performed to prepare a database for future research in this field. The measurement data base includes LOS and NLOS measurements. Results of these measurements were used to analyze the effectiveness of the super-resolution algorithms. Also, a novel model for the distance measurement error for indoor geolocation was developed under this project.

Elements of an indoor geolocation system

Principal Investigators

• Kaveh Pahlavan (CWINS)

Research Staff (CWINS)

• Jacques Beneat
• Xinrong Li
• Bardia Alavi
• Emad Zand
• Muzaffer Kanaan
• Nayef Alsindi

Sponsor

National Science Foundation (NSF)

Duration

September 2000 - September 2003

Publications

• Bardia Alavi, PhD, 2006, Distance Measurement Error Modeling for Time-of-Arrival Based Indoor Geolocation.
• Nayef Alsindi, MS, 2004, Performance of TOA Estimation Algorithms in Different Indoor Multipath Conditions.
• Xinrong Li, PhD, 2003, Super-resolution TOA estimation with diversity for indoor geolocation.
• Emad Zand, MS, 2003, Measurement of TOA Using Frequency Domain Techniques for Indoor Geolocation.
• B. Alavi, K. Pahlavan, N. Alsindi, and X. Li, "Using UWB Measurements for Statistical Analysis of the Ranging Error in Indoor Multipath Environment," accepted for publication in International Journal of Wireless and Optical Communications (IJWOC), 2006.
• B. Alavi and K. Pahlavan, "Modeling of the TOA based Distance Measurement Error Using UWB Indoor Radio Measurements," IEEE Communication Letters, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp: 275-277, April 2006.
• M. Kanaan, K. Pahlavan, "Algorithm for TOA-based Indoor Geolocation", IEE Electronics Letters, October, 2004.
• X. Li and K. Pahlavan, "Super-resolution TOA estimation with diversity for indoor geolocation", IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp: 224-234, Jan 2004.
• K. Pahlavan, X. Li, and J. Makela, "Indoor Geolocation Science and Technology", IEEE Communications Magazine, Vol. 40, No. 2, pp: 112-118, Feb. 2002.
• B. Alavi and K. Pahlavan, "Studying the Effect of Bandwidth on Performance of UWB Positioning Systems," IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC 2006), Las Vegas, USA, April 3-6, 2006.
• B. Alavi, K. Pahlavan, N. Alsindi, and X. Li, "Indoor Geolocation Distance Error Modeling using UWB Channel Measurements", 16th Annual IEEE International Symposium on Personal Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC'05), Berlin, Germany, 11-14 Sept. 2005.
• B. Alavi and K. Pahlavan, "Analysis of Undetected Direct Path in Time-of-Arrival based UWB Indoor Geolocation," 62nd Semiannual IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference, IEEE-VTC, fall 2005, Dallas, Texas, September 25-28, 2005.
• B. Alavi, K. Pahlavan, X Li, and N. Alsindi, "Indoor Geolocation Distance Error Modeling with UWB Technology," The 2nd IASTED International Conference on Communication and Computer Networks, IASTED-CCN, Boston, USA, November 8-10, 2004.
• N. Alsindi, X. Li, K. Pahlavan, "Performance of TOA estimation algorithms in different indoor multipath conditions," IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC 2004), Atlanta, GA, USA, 21-25 March 2004.
• M. Kanaan and K. Pahlavan, "A comparison of wireless geolocation algorithms in the indoor environment", IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC 2004), Atlanta, GA, USA, 21-25 March 2004.
• Emad D. Zand, K. Pahlavan and Jacques Beneat, Frequency Domain Measurement for Indoor Geolocation, to be submitted for IEEE PIMRC September 2003.
• B. Alavi and K. Pahlavan, "Bandwidth Effect on Distance Error Modeling for Indoor Geolocation," 14th Annual IEEE International Symposium on Personal Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC'03), Beijing, China, September 7-10, 2003.
• B. Alavi and K. Pahlavan, "Modeling of the Distance Error for Indoor Geolocation," IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC 2003), New Orleans, USA, March 16-20, 2003.
• X. Li, K. Pahlavan, and J. Beneat, "Performance of TOA estimation techniques in indoor multipath channels", 13th Annual IEEE International Symposium on Personal Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC'02), Portugal, 15-18 Sep. 2002.
• X. Li, K. Pahlavan, "Indoor Super Resolution TOA Measurement in Frequency-Domain", IEEE Workshop on WLANs, Boston, Sep. 27-28 2001.