Experimental Characterization of a Robust Localization Method Based on UWB Ranging

Robust localization, which is the accurate measurement of the position of a user or device in the presence of obstructions or challenging environments, is a fundamental building block for numerous applications. The standard positioning methods and technologies do not provide satisfactory measurement accuracy in such challenging environments. Therefore, in this paper, a robust localization method is investigated and characterized experimentally. The robust method is capable of estimating the position of a mobile node based on distance measurements with respect to known-position anchors. The method is characterized by means of experiments using the ultra wide band ranging technology. Experimental results in a non line of sight (NLOS) scenario show that the robust localization method may reduce the error by a factor of 4 with respect to the standard method, i.e. the nonlinear least squares. In fact, the robust method results in a median error of approximately 5 cm, whereas the standard method results in a median positioning error of approximately 20 cm.