Precise Indoor Positioning Using UWB: A Review of Methods, Algorithms and Implementations

The demand and growth of indoor positioning has increased rapidly in the past few years for a diverse range of applications. Various innovative techniques and technologies have been introduced but precise and reliable indoor positioning still remains a challenging task due to dependence on a large number of factors and limitations of the technologies. Positioning technologies based on radio frequency (RF) have many advantages over the technologies utilizing ultrasonic, optical and infrared devices. Both narrowband and wideband RF systems have been implemented for short range indoor positioning/real-time locating systems. Ultra wideband (UWB) technology has emerged as a viable candidate for precise indoor positioning due its unique characteristics. This article presents a comparison of UWB and narrowband RF technologies in terms of modulation, throughput, transmission time, energy efficiency, multipath resolving capability and interference. Secondly, methods for measurement of the positioning parameters are discussed based on a generalized measurement model and, in addition, widely used position estimation algorithms are surveyed. Finally, the article provides practical UWB positioning systems and state-of-the-art implementations. We believe that the review presented in this article provides a structured overview and comparison of the positioning methods, algorithms and implementations in the field of precise UWB indoor positioning, and will be helpful for practitioners as well as for researchers to keep abreast of the recent developments in the field.