TDoA based indoor positioning over small cell 5G networks

• Published in: NOMS 2022-2022 IEEE/IFIP Network Operations and Management Symposium pp. 1 - 6
• Main Authors: Papp, Zsofia, Irvine, Garry, Smith, Roland, Mogyorosi, Ferenc, Revisnyei, Peter, Toros, Istvan, Pasic, Alija
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 25.04.2022
• Subjects: 5G mobile communication; Antenna measurements; Position measurement; Sensor systems; Sensors; Standardization; Weight measurement
• ISSN: 2374-9709
• DOI: 10.1109/NOMS54207.2022.9789712

Accurate indoor positioning is a highly requested feature in a wide range of applications, and an increasing demand is expected with the rollout of the fifth-generation (5G) cellular communication system. Although intensive research has been conducted on this topic since the 1990s, the global market still lacks a reliable, affordable, flexible, and sufficiently accurate indoor positioning system. Indoor localization over the cellular 5G network is a promising alternative for multiple reasons: no additional infrastructure costs, high availability, good control over security, and easy integration with other services due to standardization. The only questionable aspect is meeting the accuracy requirements for certain applications. However, 5G has numerous beneficial modifications and new features concerning positioning that can be exploited in the future. Our paper investigates the realization of the first TDOA-based indoor positioning system on existing 5G small cell networks, focusing primarily on the challenging effects of indoor signal propagation and possible ways to overcome them. To achieve this, we created a channel model based on real 5G measurements taken in an open-office building, and we used the obtained novel model to create a realistic simulation framework. This simulation framework was utilized to investigate the positioning performance of several algorithms. In addition to signal propagation issues, we investigate and highlight several other crucial aspects (e.g., synchronization and installation errors) that must be considered when deploying an industry-grade TDOA-based 5G positioning system.