Automatic Anchor Caliburation for UWB-based Indoor Positioning Systems

In order to navigate Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in GNSS-denied environments localized indoor positioning systems is essential. One of the most common methods for such positioning systems uses high-bandwidth radio frequency called Ultra-wideband (UWB). The UWB radio has several characteristics suited for indoor communication such as low susceptibility to multipath and high immunity against wireless network interference. Although UWB-based positioning is widely used, most of the existing solutions require accurate coordinates of UWB nodes to be known in advance. This put limitation on deployment of positioning systems. In this study, we designed a method to automatically calibrate UWB nodes positions in order to make deployment of indoor positioning systems easier. The proposed method for auto-calibration are tested in real indoor environments to validate effectiveness of the strategy. The effect of node arrangement on accuracy of position estimation was examined as well. As the result, we could improve performance of auto-calibration by changing geometry of UWB nodes.