Experimental Data Collection and Performance Analysis of Outdoor UWB Positioning System under Static and Mobile Conditions

Abstract

A wide variety of semiautonomous systems are emerging in construction,defense, and agricultural applications. A UWB positioning system showspromise in improving navigational capabilities and safety of operationsfor these systems. This paper describes an outdoor UWB positioningsystem used to measure the position of the operators of a semiautonomousvehicle to improve safety of operations. A measurement campaign wasconducted to collect experimental range errors for the system atdistances from 2 m to 40 m. The range errors are characterized andperformance of the system is assessed in a static environment. A modelis proposed for range errors and results are compared to experimentaldata. Measured position errors are compared to position errors generatedby the model. A mobility model is proposed and performance of thepositioning system in a mobile environment is assessed. Copyright (C)2009 P. Richardson and D. Shan.