Evaluation of Ultra Wide Band Technology as an Enhancement for BLE Based Location Estimation

Abstract

In the scope of this paper, the precise positioning of objects with the help of Ultra Wide Band technology is evaluated. To achieve this, a prototype module for the use with the Decawave transceiver DW1000 was implemented and added to FruityMesh, an Internet of Things (IoT) mesh network of the company M-Way Solutions. The focus of the network is low-power communication based on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). This includes, for example, Building Automation, Lighting Management and Asset Tracking. Especially the last stated point benefits from a position tracking as precise as possible and a long battery life. Therefore, FruityMesh is used to perform a signalstrength based localization with the existing BLE messages. Due to absorption, interference, and diffraction, these measurements tend to fluctuate and allow a positioning accuracy within ±1.5m. With the integration of Ultra Wide Band and the Time of Arrival (ToA) method, a centimeter-precise localization was made possible in the course of this work, which at the same time causes only small additional costs in general. Since the connection of extra hardware is associated with decreased energy efficiency, an algorithm for optimizing the control was first developed and then tested against the created scenarios. In addition to the motion-based control of the hardware, various configurations and adjustments were analyzed to reduce the power consumption by Ultra-Wideband (UWB) transmission. Finally, the developed prototype was compared with a realistic reproduction of the existing Asset Tracking to evaluate the benefits for the use in the productive application.