WPI Precision Personnel Location System: Rapid Deployment Antenna System and Sensor Fusion for 3D Precision Location

A. Cavanaugh, M. Lowe, D. Cyganski, R.J. Duckworth

Abstract:	An RF-based system is being developed for tracking of first responders and other personnel in indoor environments. The system assumes no existing infrastructure, no pre-characterization of the area of operation and is designed for spectral compliance and rapid deployment. The RF 3D location system, based on a recently developed multicarrier signal fusion algorithm, has previously demonstrated submeter positioning accuracy of a transmitter, even in difficult indoor environments with high multi-path, with all receivers placed outside the building. However, the current version of the system requires a set of 12 to 16 antennas be distributed outside three to four sides of the building in order to obtain the necessary diversity of information necessary to precisely resolve 3D location. This is undesirable as a practical application of a Precision Personnel Location (PPL) system requires rapid deployment of any antenna nodes at a time when almost all manpower at the fire scene is dedicated to rapid and safe entry into the building and fire suppression activities. Thus, the act of antenna deployment must be extremely fast, easy and forgiving. This paper reports on the development and evaluation outcomes of an approach that permits 3D location based upon deployment of two antenna arrays on any one face of the building. The positioning performance of the PPL system with the new antenna system will be compared to performance from the previous incarnation of the PPL system with widely distributed antennas. In the case of the new antenna system, outcomes will be shown for both the cases of Bayesian inference based upon additional sensor information and without this sensor information. The previously described[1], [2], [3], [4], [5] WPI PPL system has demonstrated 3D accuracies of better than 1 m in indoor tests. We will show that the new version of the system does not perform at the level of precision as that with a diverse antenna distribution, however, at a level sufficient to still significantly aid in search and rescue missions.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 2010 International Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation January 25 - 27, 2010 Catamaran Resort Hotel San Diego, CA
Pages:	214 - 219
Cite this article:	Cavanaugh, A., Lowe, M., Cyganski, D., Duckworth, R.J., "WPI Precision Personnel Location System: Rapid Deployment Antenna System and Sensor Fusion for 3D Precision Location," Proceedings of the 2010 International Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation, San Diego, CA, January 2010, pp. 214-219.
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