Comparing Decawave and Bespoon UWB location systems: indoor/outdoor performance analysis

Several UWB location systems have already been proposed for accurate position estimation. These UWB systems, some available at commercial level, and others implemented as laboratory test-beds, have been individually evaluated for particular applications and under different fusion strategies. In this paper we compare two commercially available UWB systems (Decawave and Bespoon) under exactly the same experimental conditions, in order to generate a critical analysis about their performances. The analysis includes the characterization of the range error in Line-Of-Sight (LOS) and Non-Line-OfSight (NLOS) conditions. The NLOS conditions include the propagation/difraction of radio signals across furniture, metallic cabinets and several brick walls in indoor scenarios. The analysis also includes the 2D/3D positioning performance of both UWB systems using a particle filter estimation approach that takes into account NLOS conditions.