Ultra-Wideband Ranging for In-Vehicle Smartphone Positioning

Date
2021-05-13
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Abstract
Outdoor positioning technologies have advanced rapidly over the past decade and are now able to meet the requirements of many consumer applications. Nevertheless, some challenges remain around the efficacy of these technologies as it relates to the complexity of the indoor environment, obstacles, and layout. One of these environments is inside passenger vehicles. The use of smartphones in vehicles, and resulting distracted driving remains a challenge. This thesis proposes and evaluates a method to locate a smartphone inside a car by using ultra-wideband ranging sensors installed in the phone, the car, and possibly also in the car key. This thesis introduces the Ultra-Wideband ranging and wireless positioning technologies in detail and simulates and analyzes the performance of commonly used wireless positioning algorithms through ranging-based positioning methods. Based on the analysis of simulation experiments and the characteristics of each algorithm, trilateration using both the Least Squares method, and the Kalman Filter method were selected to track a smartphone in a car. The Kalman Filter was found to demonstrate better results compared with Least Squares when using weighted measurements, a height constraint, and a random walk dynamics model. Also, the horizontal accuracy of the driver's seat is increased by 40% and 60% in Least Squares and Kalman Filter, respectively. The results of simulation and real tests show that Ultra-Wideband technology can provide satisfactory positioning results for mobile phones and, potentially, passengers and physical objects in the vehicle, which indicates that the driver's driving state and the passenger's state can be predicted to some extent.
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Keywords
Sensors, UWB, in-vehicle
Citation
Zhang, D. (2021). Ultra-Wideband Ranging for In-Vehicle Smartphone Positioning (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.