Staggered Repetition Frequency Pulse Solution and Evaluation for Ultra-Wideband Range Ambiguity in Long-Distance Multipath.

With unrivaled location ranging capability, Ultra-Wideband (UWB) has been used to determine the distance between UWB-enabled transceivers, such as smartphones and other IoT devices, find precise location, and provide location-aware communication and services. However, the range ambiguity problem caused by the first path discrimination ambiguity exists in some multipath scenarios and affect UWB ranging correctness seriously. Due to the diversity and complexity of the propagation channel characteristics in the real-world environment, it is challenging to create controllable and repeatable multipath scenarios. To mimic different multipath scenarios and evaluate UWB ranging performance, we propose and implement a channel emulation testbed, in which the actual UWB ranging modules can be evaluated in an isolated interference-free environment with specific propagation channel characteristics. To solve the first path discrimination ambiguity problem in UWB ranging, we present the staggered repetition frequency pulse algorithm. Through a series of evaluations by simulation, emulation and field measurement, our proposed solution has been verified to eliminate the long-distance multipath interference and discriminate the first path correctly so that reliable and accurate UWB ranging with high-performance can be ensured.