Evaluation of localization methods in millimeter-wave wireless systems

Millimeter-wave communications are considered as one of the key technologies for enabling multi-gigabit wireless access and bandwidth demanding applications. An increasing number of these applications, such as smart environments, asset tracking, video surveillance, and specialized location based services, require knowledge related to the location of the wireless devices. Due to the special characteristics of millimeter-wave transmissions, such as high path loss attenuation, oxygen absorption, and antenna directivity, it is challenging to achieve accurate localization. In this overview paper, the performance of localization methods over the millimeter-wave medium is compared under realistic conditions. The prominent localization approaches based on received signal strength, time of arrival, and angle of arrival of millimeter-wave signals, are numerically evaluated by an extensive set of Monte Carlo simulations. It is suggested that localization based on angle of arrival is the most promising for millimeter-wave transmissions.