A KFL-TOA UWB Indoor Positioning Method for
Complex Environment
Guosai Yang1,2, Linhui Zhao1
1 2
Beijing Engineering Research Center of Smart Mechanical
Innovation Design Service
Beijing, China
Abstract—For the positioning in a complex indoor
environment, this paper proposed an indoor positioning method
used Ultra-Wide Band (UWB), which based on time of arrival
(TOA) principle, combining Kalman filtering and linearized
(KFL-TOA). This method can reduce the positioning error and
improve positioning accuracy effectively when the UWB signal is
interfered by the multipath effect or the non-line-of-sight
(NLOS). The DWM1000 module is used in the positioning
system. Compared with traditional TOA positioning method, the
positioning result show that: in the non-interference condition,
The KFL-UWB can reduce 31.7% of the Root Mean Square
Error (RMSE) and 31.0% of the Circular Error Probable (CEP);
In the multipath effect condition, it can reduce 13.7% of the
RMSE and 9.7% of the CEP; In the NLOS condition, it can
reduce 32.9% of the RMSE and 36.1% of the CEP.
Keywords—UWB; indoor positioning; Kalman filtering; NLOS;
TOA
I. INTRODUCTION
In recent years, there comes a large needs of indoor
positioning technology in the field of robot, shopping guide,
smart home, security, medical, warehousing and so on [1]. The
current popular indoor positioning technology include WiFi,
UWB, Bluetooth, vision based, and so on [2]. UWB
positioning technology has its advantage of high accuracy
compared with others. But its accuracy will be reduced when
positioning in a complex indoor environment [3].
Compared with the outdoor environment, the indoor
environment is more complex. Various obstacles and walls will
disturb the transmission of UWB signal such as reflect,
weaken, and block the signals. That will result in NLOS effects
and multipath effect, which will seriously affect the effective
transmission of signals and increases the positioning error [4],
[5].
Various solutions for multipath effect and NLOS error
mitigation of UWB positioning are available in the technical
literature [6], [7], [8], [9]. FANG algorithm[10] deduces the
estimation expression of the tag’s coordinate in the case of
three anchors, but this method can’t improve the positioning
accuracy by using redundant information of other anchors.
Traditional time difference of arrival (TDOA) algorithm, such
as CHAN algorithm, Taylor series expansion algorithm,
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.
91420202)
‹,(((
Yaping Dai2*, Yijun Xu2
School of Automation
2
Beijing Institute of Technology
Beijing, China
daiyaping@bit.edu.cn
Friedlander algorithm, and so on, only when the measurement
error is zero mean Gaussian error can these algorithms get
higher precision [11]. In a real environment, NLOS effects and
multipath effects are often unavoidable.
Aiming at solving the influence of NLOS error and
multipath effect on positioning performance, this paper
proposed an indoor positioning method used Ultra-Wide Band
(UWB), which based on TOA principle, combining Kalman
filtering and linearized called KFL-TOA UWB positioning
method. We built a UWB indoor positioning system with 3
anchors to validate our method in non-interference condition,
the multipath effect condition and the NLOS condition
respectively. The positioning result show that: compared with
traditional TOA positioning method, the positioning result
show that: In the non-interference condition, The KFL-TOA
method can reduce 31.7% of the RMSE and 31.0% of the CEP;
In the multipath effect condition, it can reduce 13.7% of the
RMSE and 9.7% of the CEP; In the NLOS condition, it can
reduce 32.9% of the RMSE and 36.1% of the CEP. So our
method has a better positioning accuracy and can effectively
reduce the positioning error in complex indoor environment
with NLOS error and multipath effect.
The rest of paper is organized as below: II presents TOA
based UWB positioning method. III describes the design of
KFL-TOA UWB Positioning method. IV conducts experiment
to verify and analyze the positioning results. V concludes the
paper.
II. LINEARIZED TOA BASED UWB POSITIONING METHOD
The principle of UWB positioning based on TOA is that
measuring the time of the signal transmission from tag to every
anchor to build mathematical model [].The signal travels at the
speed of light c in the air, the distance between the anchor and
the tag can be obtained by the time of the signal transmission
multiply the speed of light c. Set ( xi , yi ) are the coordinates of
anchor A, B, C; d i is the distance between the tag O ( xo , yo )
and the three anchors, set d i as radii, set the anchor ( xi , yi )as
the center, the coordinate of intersection point of the three
circle is the tag O’s coordinate. The schematic of the TOA
positioning is shown in Fig. 1.

 ªT 2 º
ª xk º ª xk −1 º « 0»
« < » ª1 T 0 0º «
< » « 2 »
« xk » «0 1 0 » «
0 » xk −1 « T » 0 » ª wx / k −1 º , (3-2)
« »=« « »+ »« »
« yk » « 0 0 1 T » « yk −1 » « T 2 » ¬ wy / k −1 ¼
«0
« < » «0 0 0
»
1¼ « < » « 2»
¬
¬« yk ¼» ¬« yk −1 ¼» « 0 T »¼
¬
Where T is sample times, wx / k −1 and wy / k −1 are the
Fig. 1. The schematic of the TOA positioning component of process noise in x and y directions respectively.
We set (3-9) as the state transition equation (3-1).
We can get the following equations: Establish observation equation:
2 2 2
(x1 − xo ) + (y1 − yo ) = d1 ª xk º
2 2
(x 2 − xo ) + (y 2 − y o ) = d 2 , 2
(2-1) «< »
ª xz / k º ª1 0 0 0 º « xk » ª1 0 º ª vx / k º
(x 3 − xo ) 2 + (y3 − yo ) 2 = d 32 « y » = «0 0 1 0 » « y » + «0 1 » «v » ,(3-3)
¬ z/k ¼ ¬ ¼« k» ¬ ¼ ¬ y/k ¼
also can write as㸸
« < »
d i 2 = (x i − xo )2 + (yi − y o ) 2 , (2-2) «¬ yk »¼
where vx / k and vy/k are the component of observation noise in
Where, d i is distance between the anchor i and the tag. x and y directions respectively.
When the coordinates of the anchor is known, the coordinate of
tag O can be calculated according to (2-2). The formulas in predict phase of KFL-TOA UWB is :

In theory, the method of three circles intersect at one point Xˆ k +1/ k = Fk +1 Xˆ k / k + Wk +1 , (3-4)
can determine the tag’s position, but this method requires a
high precision of the measured distance, and in real indoor P k +1/ k = Fk +1 Pk / k Fk +1T + Qw , (3-5)
environment the error of measurement is unavoidable so that
mostly the three circles can’t intersect at one point. To solve
this problem, this paper linearize above quadratic equation. where Xˆ k +1/ k is the predicted state estimate; P k +1/ k is the
Expand formula (2-1), and eliminate of unknown predicted estimate covariance; Qw is the covariance matrix of
parameters xo and yo , we can get: ª1 T 0 0º
−1
«0 1 0 0 »»
ªxo º ª2(xa − xc ) 2( ya − yc )º ªxa2 − xc2 + ya2 − yc2 + dc2 − da2 º , (2-3) process noise; Fk +1 = « is the state transition
« »=« » « 2 2 » «0 0 1 T»
¬ yo ¼ ¬2(xb − xc ) 2( yb − yc )¼
2 2 2 2
«¬xb − xc + yb − yc + dc − db »¼
« »
If the matrix on the left of the equal is reversible, the ¬0 0 0 1¼
equation is solvable. ( xo , yo ) is the tag’s coordinate. It is ªT 2 º
obviously, formula (2-3) hasn’t consider the system error and «2 0 »
measurement error. We add the Kalman filtering to reduce the « »
error caused by indoor complex environment, the method we «T 0 » ª wx / k −1 º
designed is call KFL-TOA UWB positioning method. model; Wk +1 = « »« » is the process noise.
«0 T 2 » ¬ wy / k −1 ¼
III. KFL- TOA UWB POSITIONING METHOD « 2»
«0 T »¼
For the UWB indoor positioning, the tag’s coordinate ¬
( x , y ) and velocity is state variable, so we set the state vector
The formulas in the update phase of KFL-TOA UWB
as follows: method is:
< <
X k = [ xk xk yk yk ]T (3-1) K k +1 = Pk +1/ k H k +1T ( H k +1 Pk +1/ k H k +1T + Rk ) , (3-6)

The fundamental equations of Kalman filtering include Xˆ k +1/ k +1 = Xˆ k +1/ k + K k +1 (Zk +1 − H k +1 X k +1/ k ) , (3-7)
state equation and observation equation. The following state
transition equations can be established:


 P k +1/ k +1 = ( I − K k +1H k +1 ) Pk +1/ k , (3-8)

Where K is the optimal Kalman gain; Xˆ k +1/ k +1 is

updated state estimate; P k +1/ k +1 is updated estimate
covariance; Rk is covariance matrix observation noise;
ª1 0 0 0º
H =« is the observation model;
¬0 0 1 0 »¼
ª1 0 º ª vx / k º
Rk = « « » is observation noise.
¬0 1 »¼ ¬v y / k ¼
Fig. 3. The real positioning environment
The KFL-TOA UWB positioning method executes the
above formula in every loop of iteration. This method Experiment 1, Non-interference condition. The real position
combining Kalman filtering and linearized can improve of tag is (3380mm, 2385mm), and it is away from the table,
positioning accuracy effectively in the complex indoor walls and other subject easy to reflect the signal, and there is no
environment. obstacle in propagation path of signal. The positioning result is
shown in Fig. 4. The curve is more stable and the distribution is
IV. EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION more concentrated, it shows that the KFL-TOA method have
better positioning performance.
The experiment is designed to verify the effectiveness and
performance of the KFL-TOA UWB positioning method. The
UWB module DWM1000 is used, and a three anchors system 3400
of the UWB positioning system is built. The coordinates of Ttraditional TOA
x direction/mm

3390
three anchors are A0(2500mm, 2500mm), A1(6300mm, KFL-TOA UWB
5500mm), A2(6300mm, 1300mm) respectively. The structure 3380
of the UWB positioning system is shown in Fig. 2. The Fig. 3
is the real experiment environment. 3370

Three contrast experiments between the KFL-TOA UWB

3360
method and traditional TOA method in different conditions are 0 50 100 150
done. Experiment 1 is in the non-interference condition; Times
Experiment 2 is in the multipath effect condition; Experiment 3 2440
is in the NLOS condition. The Root Mean Square Error Ttraditional TOA
(RMSE) and Circular Error Probable (CEP) are the most 2420
y direction/mm

KFL-TOA UWB
commonly methods used for evaluating system’s accuracy. We 2400
use both RMSE and CEP to evaluate the KFL-TOA UWB
2380
positioning method.
2360

2340
0 50 100 150
Times

Fig. 4. Positioning result in non-interference condition

The analysis of positioning error is shown in TABLE I.

Compared with traditional TOA positioning method, the KFL-
TOA UWB positioning method can reduce the positioning
RMSE 31.7% and reduce CEP 31.0%.

TABLE I. THE ANALYSIS OF POSITIONING ERROR

Method Traditional KFL-TOA Comparison
Fig. 2. The structure of the UWB positioning system TOA UWB
Criterion
RMSE 11.99 8.19 Reduce 31.7%
CEP 10.15 7.00 Reduce 31.0%


 Experiment 2, In multipath effect condition. The real
position of tag is (3320mm, 2500mm). Put the tag on the table 5700
and the table will reflect signal, so there exists multipath effect. 5600
Ttraditional TOA
The positioning result is shown in Fig. 5. The curve is more

x direction/mm
KFL-TOA UWB
stable and the distribution is more concentrated, it shows that 5500
the KFL-TOA method have better positioning performance 5400
under the multipath effect.
5300

5200
3380 0 50 100 150
Ttraditional TOA Times
3360
x direction/mm

KFL-TOA UWB
220
3340
Ttraditional TOA

y direction/mm
3320 200 KFL-TOA UWB

3300
180
3280
0 50 100 150 160
Times
140
2550 0 50 100 150
Ttraditional TOA Times
y direction/mm

KFL-TOA UWB
2500
Fig. 6. Positioning result in NLOS condition
2450

TABLE III. THE ANALYSIS OF POSITIONING ERROR IN NLOS CONDITION

2400
0 50 100 150 Method Traditional TOA KFL-TOA Comparison
Times UWB
Criterion
RMSE 57.45 39.51 Reduce 32.9%
Fig. 5. Positioning result in multipath effect condition CEP 54.16 34.63 Reduce 36.1%

The analysis of positioning error in multipath effect is

shown in TABLE II. Compared with traditional TOA The result of experiment shows that the KFL-TOA UWB
positioning method, the KFL-TOA UWB positioning method positioning method which proposed in this paper has a good
can reduce the positioning RMSE 31.0% and reduce the CEP performance in indoor positioning, especially in the complex
9.7% in this condition. indoor environment such as multipath effect and NLOS
conditions.
TABLE II. THE ANALYSIS OF POSITIONING ERROR IN MULTIPATH
EFFECT V. CONCLUSION
Method Traditional TOA KFL-TOA Comparison A KFL-TOA UWB positioning method is proposed in this
UWB paper which is aimed at reduce the positioning error in
Criterion complex indoor environment. The KFL-TOA UWB method is
RMSE 37.12 32.03 Reduce 13.7% described and three experiments is done in three different
CEP 30.09 27.17 Reduce 9.7%
positioning conditions. The result of experiment shows that the
KFL-TOA UWB method have a better positioning
Experiment 3, In NLOS condition. The real position of tag performance in multipath effect condition and NLOS
is (5400mm, 170mm). Put the tag on the table and behind a condition.
metal obstacle, the table will reflect signal, and the obstacle
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