Experimental Evaluation of UWB Indoor Positioning for Indoor Track Cycling

Abstract

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.

Cost-Effective Wearable Indoor Localization and Motion Analysis via the Integration of UWB and IMU

“…Ridolfi et al [39] presented investigations of the capabilities of UWB indoor localization systems for tracking athletes during their complex movements, which could be used to analyze the impact of on-body tag placement locations and human movement patterns on localization accuracy and communication reliability. Minne et al [20] investigate the optimal position to mount the UWB hardware for in-depth analysis of the performance of athletes during training and competition, and obtained a median ranging error of 22 cm. To manage the performance degradation problem of UWB for NLoS localization, Yang [40] proposed a novel NLoS mitigation method based on a sparse pseudo-input Gaussian process (SPGP) with a low complexity.…”

Improving Accuracy and Reliability of Bluetooth Low-Energy-Based Localization Systems Using Proximity Sensors

“…In Time of Arrival-based UWB systems [9] users location is derived based on the signal propagation times between the localized tag and the anchors comprising the system infrastructure. Range to the anchor is usually measured using the Two-Way Ranging procedure (TWR) which consists of exchanging packets between the tag and the anchor, noting their transmission and reception times [9]. The main advantage of this method is that, since the distance between the tag and each of the anchors is measured independently, anchor synchronization is not needed.…”

“…Unfortunately, energy consumption of UWB devices is on a relatively high level. For the ToA-based system described in [9], it was estimated that the tag would work without recharging for 74 h if it were powered with 6000-mAh battery pack. In case of wearable devices, which usually use smaller batteries this time would be even shorter.…”

Distributed Multi-Antenna Positioning for Automatic-Guided Vehicle

“…Typically, centimeter-level accuracy can be obtained for UWB by using time-of-arrival (TOA) measurements [11,12]. Furthermore, the UWB positioning system can be configured for indoor applications [13,14]. With the development of UWB chips, UWB became a popular technology for regional navigation [15].…”