An adaptable physical layer for wireless sensor networks

The research presented by the speaker considers the development of a wireless sensor network (WSN) positioning technique that uses time difference of arrival (TDoA) to locate sensors transmitting ultra-wideband (UWB) pulses. Two localisation algorithms have been examined, with their accuracy depending on detection of the leading edges (LEs) of the received pulses. A prototype algorithm showed major weaknesses in detecting LEs and was quite inaccurate. The speaker proposes a novel adaptive LE method that improves the localisation accuracy by almost double as compared to the prototype method.