Phase-Based Distance Estimation Integrated With IEEE 802.15.4 TSCH Communication

Localization and sensing inputs are enabling new and improved Internet of Things (IoT) applications and have been studied extensively over the past decade. Unfortunately, many solutions focus primarily on improving localization performance, which in turn reduces communication capabilities. Driven by the integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) aspects, we investigate how localization functionality can be seamlessly integrated into an IEEE 802.15.4 time-slotted channel hopping communication protocol. We present two new methods of phase-based ranging that estimate the distance between two devices with each transmitted data packet. We further analyze the effects of introduced changes on communication, their power consumption, and ranging operability. We improve the state-of-the-art algorithm of phase-based distance estimation by reducing the number of phase samples required, without reducing its accuracy and sensitivity while increasing the energy efficiency.