An Impulse-Radio Ultra-Wideband (IR-UWB) cavitybacked slot antenna covering the [5.9803; 6.9989] GHz frequency band of the IEEE 802.15.4a-2011 standard is designed and implemented in airfilled substrate-integrated-waveguide (AFSIW) technology for localization applications with an accuracy of at least 3 cm. By relying on both frequency-and time-domain optimization, the antenna achieves excellent IR-UWB characteristics. In free-space conditions, an impedance bandwidth of 1.92 GHz (or 29.4%), a total efficiency higher than 89%, a front-to-back-ratio of at least 12.1 dB and a gain higher than 6.3 dBi are measured in the frequency domain. Furthermore, a system fidelity factor larger than 98% and a relative group delay smaller than 100 ps are measured in the time domain within the 3dB-beamwidth of the antenna. As a result, the measured time-of-arrival of a transmitted Gaussian pulse, for different angles of arrival, exhibits variations smaller than 100 ps, corresponding to a maximum distance estimation error of 3 cm. Additionally, the antenna is validated in a real-life worst-case deployment scenario, showing that its characteristics remain stable in a large variety of deployment scenarios. Finally, the difference in frequency-domain and time-domain performance is studied between the antenna implemented in AFSIW and in dielectric-filled SIW (DFSIW) technology. We conclude that DFSIW technology is less suitable for the envisaged precision IR-UWB localization application. Index Terms-Cavity-backed slot antenna, air-filled substrateintegrated-waveguide, impulse-radio ultra-wideband, high efficiency, indoor localization.

A cost-effective, compact and high-performance antenna element for beamforming applications in all 5G New Radio bands in the [24.25-29.5] GHz spectrum is proposed. The novel antenna topology adopts a square patch, an edge-plated air-filled cavity, and an hourglass-shaped aperture-coupled feed to achieve a very high efficiency over a wide frequency band in a compact footprint (0.48λ0 × 0.48λ0). Its compliance with standard PCB fabrication technology, without complex multi-layer PCB stack, ensures low-cost fabrication. The antenna feedplane offers a platform for compact integration of active electronic circuitry. Two different modular 1×4 antenna arrays were realized to demonstrate its suitability for broadband multi-antenna systems. Measurements of the fabricated antenna element and the antenna array prototypes revealed a -10-dB impedance bandwidth of 7.15 GHz (26.8%) and 8.2 GHz (30.83%), resp. The stand-alone antenna features a stable peak gain of 7.4 ± 0.6 dBi in the [24.25-29.5] GHz band and a measured total efficiency of at least 85%. The 1×4 array provides a peak gain of 10.1 ± 0.7 dBi and enables grating-lobe-free beamsteering from -50 • to 50 • .

Ultra-wideband (UWB) localization is one of the most promising approaches for indoor localization due to its accurate positioning capabilities, immunity against multipath fading, and excellent resilience against narrowband interference. However, UWB researchers are currently limited by the small amount of feasible open source hardware that is publicly available. We developed a new open source hardware platform, Wi-PoS, for precise UWB localization based on Decawave’s DW1000 UWB transceiver with several unique features: support of both long-range sub-GHz and 2.4 GHz back-end communication between nodes, flexible interfacing with external UWB antennas, and an easy implementation of the MAC layer with the Time-Annotated Instruction Set Computer (TAISC) framework. Both hardware and software are open source and all parameters of the UWB ranging can be adjusted, calibrated, and analyzed. This paper explains the main specifications of the hardware platform, illustrates design decisions, and evaluates the performance of the board in terms of range, accuracy, and energy consumption. The accuracy of the ranging system was below 10 cm in an indoor lab environment at distances up to 5 m, and accuracy smaller than 5 cm was obtained at 50 and 75 m in an outdoor environment. A theoretical model was derived for predicting the path loss and the influence of the most important ground reflection. At the same time, the average energy consumption of the hardware was very low with only 81 mA for a tag node and 63 mA for the active anchor nodes, permitting the system to run for several days on a mobile battery pack and allowing easy and fast deployment on sites without an accessible power supply or backbone network. The UWB hardware platform demonstrated flexibility, easy installation, and low power consumption.

Accurate radio frequency (RF)-based indoor localization systems are more and more applied during sports. The most accurate RF-based localization systems use ultra-wideband (UWB) technology; this is why this technology is the most prevalent. UWB positioning systems allow for an in-depth analysis of the performance of athletes during training and competition. There is no research available that investigates the feasibility of UWB technology for indoor track cycling. In this paper, we investigate the optimal position to mount the UWB hardware for that specific use case. Different positions on the bicycle and cyclist were evaluated based on accuracy, received power level, line-of-sight, maximum communication range, and comfort. Next to this, the energy consumption of our UWB system was evaluated. We found that the optimal hardware position was the lower back, with a median ranging error of 22 cm (infrastructure hardware placed at 2.3 m). The energy consumption of our UWB system is also taken into account. Applied to our setup with the hardware mounted at the lower back, the maximum communication range varies between 32.6 m and 43.8 m. This shows that UWB localization systems are suitable for indoor positioning of track cyclists.