A low-cost experimental ultra-wideband positioning system

In this paper we report on the architecture and implementation status of a low-cost experimental ultra-wideband (UWB) local positioning system, designed to enable practical evaluations of UWB based positioning concepts. The mobile devices use the avalanche effect of transistors for simple generation of bi-phase pulses and are TDMA multi-user capable. After high-speed analog-to-digital conversion, the receiver is implemented in software and employs direct cross-correlation with maximum detection to localize the mobile unit via A. One direct solution and one nonlinear optimization approach are implemented. First measurement results are presented, showing accuracy in the order of decimeters.