Practical Challenges of IR-UWB based Ranging in Harsh Industrial Environments

Impulse radio ultra-wideband (IR-UWB) ranging and localization have recently received significant attention due to the high accuracy and precision. This high accuracy can be exploited for many location aware applications in a wide variety of environments. Although most research efforts have focused on location-aware applications for indoor or outdoor environments, there are other environments, such as industrial, which introduce unique challenges. In an effort to understand how industrial environments affect IR-UWB based ranging and localization performance, this paper introduces the principles behind ranging in industrial environments and highlights practical challenges which have an impact on the ranging accuracy of IR-UWB. Results from field tests which illustrate the impact of harsh conditions on the ranging accuracy are presented.