Coherent Multi-Channel Ranging for Narrowband LPWAN: Simulation and Experimentation Results

Florian Wolf , Jean-Baptiste Doré , Xavier Popon (1) , Sébastien de Rivaz , Francois Dehmas (1) , Jean-Pierre Cances (2)

1 CEA-LETI - Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives - Laboratoire d'Electronique et de Technologie de l'Information
2 XLIM-SRI - Systèmes et Réseaux Intelligents

Precise radio based positioning for low power wide area networks remains a challenging research area due to narrowband signals and multipath propagation. Multi-channel ranging provides improved temporal resolution by coherent processing. While this technique has been applied to short range radio standards, no experimental demonstration for long range radio devices exists. The present paper introduces a hardware testbed for phase coherent multi-channel processing of narrowband signals. Simulations and preliminary experimental multi-channel results show a higher ranging precision (factor 20) over time based ranging. In a frequency flat channel with a 10 kHz signal, precisions down to 10 m (phase based) and 200 m (time based) have been achieved. Precision degrades in multipath propagation scenarios.

Mots clés: LPWAN localization; Experimental testbed; range estimation; phase-of-flight; frequency hopping

Domaines: Traitement du signal et de l'image [eess.SP]; Electromagnétisme

Florian Wolf, Jean-Baptiste Doré, Xavier Popon, Sébastien de Rivaz, Francois Dehmas, et al.. Coherent Multi-Channel Ranging for Narrowband LPWAN: Simulation and Experimentation Results. 2018 15th Workshop on Positioning, Navigation and Communications (WPNC), Oct 2018, Bremen, Germany. ⟨10.1109/WPNC.2018.8555746⟩. ⟨hal-02059014⟩