LTE NLOS Navigation and Channel Characterization

Navigation with terrestrial wireless infrastructure is appealing to overcome geometrical limitations of satellite navigation for users in environments with limited sky views. However, terrestrial signals are also prone to multipath that can result in angular and range estimates that are not representative of actual transmitter-receiver geometry. In this paper, some of these propagation effects are quantified for a particular urban non line-of-sight (NLOS) scenario, based on measurements of downlink reference symbols transmitted by a commercial Long Term Evolution (LTE) base station (eNodeB) and received by a massive antenna array mounted on a passenger vehicle. Empirical results indicate that large-scale statistics for a user making multiple passes through the same urban environment look similar when represented in terms of angles and delays despite changes in orientation and drive direction. Additionally, it is demonstrated that multipath effects can be utilized advantageously; it is possible to estimate not only user position but also orientation through wireless fingerprinting

Hybrid and Cooperative Positioning Solutions for Wireless Networks

In this thesis, some hybrid and cooperative solutions are proposed and analyzed to locate the user in challenged scenarios, with the aim to overcome the limits of positioning systems based on single technology. The proposed approaches add hybrid and cooperative features to some conventional position estimation techniques like Kalman filter and particle filter, and fuse information from different radio frequency technologies. The concept of cooperative positioning is enhanced with hybrid technologies, in order to further increase the positioning accuracy and availability. In particular, wireless sensor networks and radio frequency identification technology are used together to enhance the collected data with position information. Terrestrial ranging techniques (i.e., ultra-wide band technology) are employed to assist the satellite-based localization in urban canyons and indoors. Moreover, some advanced positioning algorithms, such as energy efficient, cognitive tracking and non-line-of-sight identification, are studied to satisfy the different positioning requirements in harsh indoor environments. The proposed hybrid and cooperative solutions are tested and verified by first Monte Carlo simulations then real experiments. The obtained results demonstrate that the proposed solutions can increase the robustness (positioning accuracy and availability) of the current localization system

New Approach of Indoor and Outdoor Localization Systems

Accurate determination of the mobile position constitutes the basis of many new applications. This book provides a detailed account of wireless systems for positioning, signal processing, radio localization techniques (Time Difference Of Arrival), performances evaluation, and localization applications. The first section is dedicated to Satellite systems for positioning like GPS, GNSS. The second section addresses the localization applications using the wireless sensor networks. Some techniques are introduced for localization systems, especially for indoor positioning, such as Ultra Wide Band (UWB), WIFI. The last section is dedicated to Coupled GPS and other sensors. Some results of simulations, implementation and tests are given to help readers grasp the presented techniques. This is an ideal book for students, PhD students, academics and engineers in the field of Communication, localization & Signal Processing, especially in indoor and outdoor localization domains

Vehicular Position Tracking Using LTE Signals

This paper proposes and validates, in the field, an approach for position tracking that is based on Long-Term Evolution (LTE) downlink signal measurements. A setup for real data live gathering is used to collect LTE signals while driving a car in the town of Rapperswil, Switzerland. The collected data are then processed to extract the received LTE cell-specific reference signals (CRSs), which are exploited for estimating pseudoranges. More precisely, the pseudoranges are evaluated by using the \u201cESPRIT and Kalman Filter for Time-of-Arrival Tracking\u201d (EKAT) algorithm and by taking advantage of signal combining in the time, frequency, spatial, and cell ID domains. Finally, the pseudoranges are corrected for base station's clock bias and drift, which are previously estimated, and are used in a positioning filter. The obtained results demonstrate the feasibility of a position tracking system based on the reception of LTE downlink signals

Multisensor navigation systems: a remedy for GNSS vulnerabilities?

Space-based positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) technologies, such as the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) provide position, velocity, and timing information to an unlimited number of users around the world. In recent years, PNT information has become increasingly critical to the security, safety, and prosperity of the World's population, and is now widely recognized as an essential element of the global information infrastructure. Due to its vulnerabilities and line-of-sight requirements, GNSS alone is unable to provide PNT with the required levels of integrity, accuracy, continuity, and reliability. A multisensor navigation approach offers an effective augmentation in GNSS-challenged environments that holds a promise of delivering robust and resilient PNT. Traditionally, sensors such as inertial measurement units (IMUs), barometers, magnetometers, odometers, and digital compasses, have been used. However, recent trends have largely focused on image-based, terrain-based and collaborative navigation to recover the user location. This paper offers a review of the technological advances that have taken place in PNT over the last two decades, and discusses various hybridizations of multisensory systems, building upon the fundamental GNSS/IMU integration. The most important conclusion of this study is that in order to meet the challenging goals of delivering continuous, accurate and robust PNT to the ever-growing numbers of users, the hybridization of a suite of different PNT solutions is required

Location-Enabled IoT (LE-IoT): A Survey of Positioning Techniques, Error Sources, and Mitigation

The Internet of Things (IoT) has started to empower the future of many industrial and mass-market applications. Localization techniques are becoming key to add location context to IoT data without human perception and intervention. Meanwhile, the newly-emerged Low-Power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN) technologies have advantages such as long-range, low power consumption, low cost, massive connections, and the capability for communication in both indoor and outdoor areas. These features make LPWAN signals strong candidates for mass-market localization applications. However, there are various error sources that have limited localization performance by using such IoT signals. This paper reviews the IoT localization system through the following sequence: IoT localization system review -- localization data sources -- localization algorithms -- localization error sources and mitigation -- localization performance evaluation. Compared to the related surveys, this paper has a more comprehensive and state-of-the-art review on IoT localization methods, an original review on IoT localization error sources and mitigation, an original review on IoT localization performance evaluation, and a more comprehensive review of IoT localization applications, opportunities, and challenges. Thus, this survey provides comprehensive guidance for peers who are interested in enabling localization ability in the existing IoT systems, using IoT systems for localization, or integrating IoT signals with the existing localization sensors