{"id":{"repo_id":"soton","oai_identifier":"oai:eprints.soton.ac.uk:171657"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/soton/oai:eprints.soton.ac.uk:171657","repository":{"repo_id":"soton","name":"University of Southampton","base_url":"https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2"},"display":{"title":"Radio frequency ranging for wireless sensor network localization","abstract":"Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have a diverse range of industrial, scientific and medical applications where the sensor nodes are of low cost, standard with respect to hardware architecture, processing abilities and communicate using low-power narrow-band radios. Position information of the sensing nodes within those applications is often a requirement in order to make use of the data recorded by the sensors themselves. On deployment, sensing nodes normally have no prior knowledge of their position and thus a localization mechanism is often a requirement. The process of localizing a 'blind' device consists of ranging estimates or angle measurements to a set of references with a prior knowledge of their position relative to a co-ordinate system and the position computation of the blind device in relation to the fixed references. This research focuses on the process of ranging to enable two-dimensional localization of sensing nodes within WSNs. Alternative ranging methods for the specified application field have not demonstrated their ability to meet the resolution and accuracy (resolution 0.3 m with accuracy better than ± 1.0 m line-of-sight) required. A novel radio frequency (RF) time-of-flight (TOF) ranging system is presented in this work to mitigate those problems. The system has been prototyped using a TI CC2431 development platform with ranging and data packet transfer performed on a single channel in the 2.4 GHz ISM frequency band. The frequency difference between the two transceivers involved with ranging is used to obtain sub-clock TOF phase offset measurement in order to achieve high resolution TOF measurements. Performance results have been obtained for the line-of-sight (LOS), non-line-of-sight (NLOS) and indoor conditions. Accuracy is typically better than 7.0m RMS for the LOS condition over 250.0m and 15.8m RMS for the NLOS condition over 120.0m using a sample average of one-hundred two-way ranging transactions. Indoors accuracy is measured to 1.7m RMS using a 1000 sample average over 8.0m. Corresponding results are also presented for the algorithms suitability for localizing sensor nodes in two-dimensions. Ranging performance is bound by the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal bandwidth, synchronization and frequency difference between devices. This ranging algorithm demonstrates a novel method where resolution and accuracy are improved time dependent in comparison to frequency dependent methods using narrow-band RF.","abstract_html":"Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have a diverse range of industrial, scientific and medical applications where the sensor nodes are of low cost, standard with respect to hardware architecture, processing abilities and communicate using low-power narrow-band radios. Position information of the sensing nodes within those applications is often a requirement in order to make use of the data recorded by the sensors themselves. On deployment, sensing nodes normally have no prior knowledge of their position and thus a localization mechanism is often a requirement. The process of localizing a 'blind' device consists of ranging estimates or angle measurements to a set of references with a prior knowledge of their position relative to a co-ordinate system and the position computation of the blind device in relation to the fixed references. This research focuses on the process of ranging to enable two-dimensional localization of sensing nodes within WSNs. Alternative ranging methods for the specified application field have not demonstrated their ability to meet the resolution and accuracy (resolution 0.3 m with accuracy better than ± 1.0 m line-of-sight) required. A novel radio frequency (RF) time-of-flight (TOF) ranging system is presented in this work to mitigate those problems. The system has been prototyped using a TI CC2431 development platform with ranging and data packet transfer performed on a single channel in the 2.4 GHz ISM frequency band. The frequency difference between the two transceivers involved with ranging is used to obtain sub-clock TOF phase offset measurement in order to achieve high resolution TOF measurements. Performance results have been obtained for the line-of-sight (LOS), non-line-of-sight (NLOS) and indoor conditions. Accuracy is typically better than 7.0m RMS for the LOS condition over 250.0m and 15.8m RMS for the NLOS condition over 120.0m using a sample average of one-hundred two-way ranging transactions. Indoors accuracy is measured to 1.7m RMS using a 1000 sample average over 8.0m. Corresponding results are also presented for the algorithms suitability for localizing sensor nodes in two-dimensions. Ranging performance is bound by the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal bandwidth, synchronization and frequency difference between devices. This ranging algorithm demonstrates a novel method where resolution and accuracy are improved time dependent in comparison to frequency dependent methods using narrow-band RF.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Thorbjornsen, B."],"institution":"University of Southampton","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"doctoral","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["White, Neil M."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2010,"date_issued":"2010-11","date_published":"2010-11","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:36:21Z","subjects":[],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":null,"outbound_label":null,"outbound_source":null},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["White, Neil M."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Thorbjornsen, B."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2010-11"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2010-11"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["ESD (pre 2011 reorg)","School of Electronics and Computer Science"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Southampton"]},{"key":"dc:relation.isreferencedby","label":"Dc Relation Isreferencedby","values":["https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/171657/"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["doctoral"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["Ph.D."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/171657/1/eprints_-_thesis.pdf"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have a diverse range of industrial, scientific and medical applications where the sensor nodes are of low cost, standard with respect to hardware architecture, processing abilities and communicate using low-power narrow-band radios. Position information of the sensing nodes within those applications is often a requirement in order to make use of the data recorded by the sensors themselves. On deployment, sensing nodes normally have no prior knowledge of their position and thus a localization mechanism is often a requirement. The process of localizing a 'blind' device consists of ranging estimates or angle measurements to a set of references with a prior knowledge of their position relative to a co-ordinate system and the position computation of the blind device in relation to the fixed references. This research focuses on the process of ranging to enable two-dimensional localization of sensing nodes within WSNs. Alternative ranging methods for the specified application field have not demonstrated their ability to meet the resolution and accuracy (resolution 0.3 m with accuracy better than ± 1.0 m line-of-sight) required. A novel radio frequency (RF) time-of-flight (TOF) ranging system is presented in this work to mitigate those problems. The system has been prototyped using a TI CC2431 development platform with ranging and data packet transfer performed on a single channel in the 2.4 GHz ISM frequency band. The frequency difference between the two transceivers involved with ranging is used to obtain sub-clock TOF phase offset measurement in order to achieve high resolution TOF measurements. Performance results have been obtained for the line-of-sight (LOS), non-line-of-sight (NLOS) and indoor conditions. Accuracy is typically better than 7.0m RMS for the LOS condition over 250.0m and 15.8m RMS for the NLOS condition over 120.0m using a sample average of one-hundred two-way ranging transactions. Indoors accuracy is measured to 1.7m RMS using a 1000 sample average over 8.0m. Corresponding results are also presented for the algorithms suitability for localizing sensor nodes in two-dimensions. Ranging performance is bound by the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal bandwidth, synchronization and frequency difference between devices. This ranging algorithm demonstrates a novel method where resolution and accuracy are improved time dependent in comparison to frequency dependent methods using narrow-band RF."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["text"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Radio frequency ranging for wireless sensor network localization"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["White, Neil M."],"dc:creator":["Thorbjornsen, B."],"dc:date":["2010-11"],"dc:date.issued":["2010-11"],"dc:description.abstract":["Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have a diverse range of industrial, scientific and medical applications where the sensor nodes are of low cost, standard with respect to hardware architecture, processing abilities and communicate using low-power narrow-band radios. Position information of the sensing nodes within those applications is often a requirement in order to make use of the data recorded by the sensors themselves. On deployment, sensing nodes normally have no prior knowledge of their position and thus a localization mechanism is often a requirement. The process of localizing a 'blind' device consists of ranging estimates or angle measurements to a set of references with a prior knowledge of their position relative to a co-ordinate system and the position computation of the blind device in relation to the fixed references. This research focuses on the process of ranging to enable two-dimensional localization of sensing nodes within WSNs. Alternative ranging methods for the specified application field have not demonstrated their ability to meet the resolution and accuracy (resolution 0.3 m with accuracy better than ± 1.0 m line-of-sight) required. A novel radio frequency (RF) time-of-flight (TOF) ranging system is presented in this work to mitigate those problems. The system has been prototyped using a TI CC2431 development platform with ranging and data packet transfer performed on a single channel in the 2.4 GHz ISM frequency band. The frequency difference between the two transceivers involved with ranging is used to obtain sub-clock TOF phase offset measurement in order to achieve high resolution TOF measurements. Performance results have been obtained for the line-of-sight (LOS), non-line-of-sight (NLOS) and indoor conditions. Accuracy is typically better than 7.0m RMS for the LOS condition over 250.0m and 15.8m RMS for the NLOS condition over 120.0m using a sample average of one-hundred two-way ranging transactions. Indoors accuracy is measured to 1.7m RMS using a 1000 sample average over 8.0m. Corresponding results are also presented for the algorithms suitability for localizing sensor nodes in two-dimensions. Ranging performance is bound by the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal bandwidth, synchronization and frequency difference between devices. This ranging algorithm demonstrates a novel method where resolution and accuracy are improved time dependent in comparison to frequency dependent methods using narrow-band RF."],"dc:format":["text"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/171657/1/eprints_-_thesis.pdf"],"dc:publisher.department":["ESD (pre 2011 reorg)","School of Electronics and Computer Science"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Southampton"],"dc:relation.isreferencedby":["https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/171657/"],"dc:title":["Radio frequency ranging for wireless sensor network localization"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["doctoral"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["Ph.D."]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:36:21Z"}