Enhanced hybrid positioning in wireless networks I: AoA-ToA

Localization in wireless networks presents enormous challenges for scientists and engineers. Some of the most commonly used techniques for localization are based on time of arrival (ToA), received signal strength (RSS) and angle of arrival (AoA) of the signals. In this paper we analyze and propose improvements to the location accuracy of hybrid (AoA-ToA) localization systems. The location coordinates are obtained using a linear least squares (LLS) algorithm. A closed form expression for the mean square error (MSE) of the LLS estimator is derived. Furthermore, the information present in the covariance of the incoming signals is utilized and a novel weighted linear least squares (WLLS) method is proposed. It is shown via simulation that the theoretical MSE accurately predicts the performance of the LLS estimator. It is also shown via simulation that the WLLS algorithm exhibits better performance than the LLS algorithm.