DR. ANIRUDDHA CHANDRA

Localization and tracking of objects is becoming a major aspect of wireless technologies, with applications in rescue operation, military surveillance, medical imaging, precision navigation, covert communication links, and logistics. Recently, large-scale deployments of sensor networks created demands for long-range low-data-rate services with localization capabilities. Ultra wide band (UWB) radio is foreseen as one of the most promising technologies for such applications. The most common form of UWB signal is the impulse radio (IR) that uses nanosecond duration pulses with very small duty cycle. Precise pulse timing of IR-UWB systems inherently enables very fine resolution for ranging, which is useful for radar and geolocation based services.

 

In the proposed project we would study the problem of position estimation in UWB systems, beginning with the characterization of UWB propagation environment through practical measurements (of impulse response, power delay profile, etc.) for different scenarios (LOS and NLOS, outdoor, and indoor). For this purpose a channel sounding set-up will be developed, followed by formulation of theoretical channel models. A simulation environment would be created next to evaluate performance of different position estimation strategies, with an emphasis on time-based approaches. It has been observed that time-of-arrival (TOA) localization is ideally suited for high-precision localization of objects in indoor environments; where global positioning system (GPS) is not available. Practical issues arising in UWB signal design and hardware implementation will be considered next. Depending on the localization algorithm, the associated hardware implementation will be carried out considering the challenges of excessive clock speed, synchronization latency, and power consumption.